RWBY: TEAM GREY
by GamingWriter
Summary: Follow in the curious and adventurous antics of Team GREY as they pull Team's RWBY and JNPR into all sorts of crazy situations. (This story is a reboot of a previous story).
1. Friendly Competition

This is a rewrite of my previous FanFiction, Team GREY. I do not own RWBY, that pleasure goes to RoosterTeeth and the fabulous Monty Oum. Some things in this story may be completely different to what happens in the canon. (Note: This chapter has been rewritten)

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><p><span>RWBY: TEAM GREY<span>

Arc 1: Team GREY

Chapter 1: Friendly Competition

Students gathered in the arena, their battle-gear and weapons at the ready

Glynda Goodwitch stood in arena, making sure everyone was in attendance.

"Ok now, listen up students" she folded her arms "We have a second year team here today to show you all what hunters and huntresses can do".

The students murmured among each other, and the red cloaked girl leaned over to whisper to the blonde that stood next to her.

"Yang?" she whispered.

"What is it Ruby?" Yang glanced over at her.

"What's this all about?" Ruby responded.

Her sister shrugged.

A group of four came out into the arena.

The first was large and tall, with bright blue hair. He was wearing a bulky long coat and black trousers. In a holster on his belt, was a sub-machine gun

The second had bright pink hair, with purple streaks. Her hair was tied up either side of her head and she wore armor. On her back, she carried a battle-axe

Third was a mysterious figure, clad in black. His hair was a dark slate grey and a scarf was wrapped around his neck and lower face, fluttering in the wind. His sleeves came over his hands and fluttered with his scarf. He didn't seem to be carrying any type of weapon.

Finally was a short haired, blonde girl. She was in full body suit, with one of the sleeves missing. Her cat ears twitched and she had a staff on her back.

"Who are these guys?" Jaune gulped.

"Team GREY have just come back from a mission" Glynda announced "they are one of the top most group of students in the second year. Allow me to introduce:

Glaucous Marlow,

Rinnette Ash,

Echo Slate, and

Yun Isabelline".

Cardin and Team CRDL looked at Yun and laughed.

"What's new pussy cat?" Cardin laughed.

She growled and grabbed her staff, going to draw it as she stepped forward. Echo held out his arm in front of her and stopped her, looking at her and shaking his head.

"Really?" Yun sulked "fine".

"So what team would like to-" Glynda was interrupted by Echo holding out his sleeve covered hand.

He stepped forward.

"I think Echo wants to fight alone". Glaucous raised his eyebrow, in curiosity.

"Very well. Who would you like as your opponent Mr Slate".

He held up his sleeve covered hand again, it was easy to make out that he was holding up three fingers.

"A three on one match" Rinnette titled her head.

He looked up at the crowd and pointed. His finger immediately directed at Cardin and Echo glared.

His finger moved around and landed at Pyrrha. From under his his scarf it was easy to see he was smirking.

He moved around again and his finger finally landed on Ruby. Echo tilted his head.

The three combatants moved down into the arena as the three other members of Team GREY moved up to the stands.

"What is he doing?" Yang scratched her head.

Yun stood behind Team CRDL. Rinnette took Pyrrha's place where Team JNPR were sitting. Glaucous sat behind Team RWBY, with a thud.

"I don't think Echo found what your leader said, to be funny" Yun sighed. "Punishment".

"Everyone has heard of Pyrrha Nikos. I suppose he wants to test her skills himself". Rinnette smiled "Challenge".

"As for Miss Rose, Echo seems interested by her" Glaucous folded his arms. "Curiosity".

The combatants prepared to fight as Glynda counted down.

Ruby extended her scythe.

Pyrrha drew her spear and shield.

Cardin pulled out his mace.

Echo simply put his hands in his pocket.

She reached zero and Cardin charged forward.

Echo simply stepped aside as the mace came down. He stepped on the weapon as it crashed into the ground, then he jumped off it and slammed his knee into Cardin's chest.

He stumbled back and Pyrrha pounced over him.

Echo countered, slamming his foot into her blade in defense.

He kept his hands in his pocket and kicked her blade out of her hands. Echo tilted his head and jumped, avoiding Cardin and flipping back over him.

As Cardin's mace hit Pyrrha's shield he kicked him on top of her.

She pushed Cardin off her, his Aura depleted. Pyrrha grabbed her spear from the ground and charged. Echo lifted his leg and slammed his heel down into her weapon, directing it into the ground. Sparks flew as the metal scraped against the stone.

The crowd wowed in awe.

Ruby just stood there with her scythe out, unable to attack as she watched in awe.

"I can't redirect his attacks" Pyrrha thought "he's not using or wearing any kind of weapon on his feet".

Echo tilted his head and ran up her blade, placing his hands on her head and somersaulting over her. He landed perfectly on his feet and ducked as Pyrrha swung around.

He turned and simply stood there, waiting.

Pyrrha panted, struggling to keep up.

"Its a rare occasion for Echo to fight on his own" Rinnette giggled.

"He rarely does so" Glaucous sighed "he doesn't even use an type of weapon".

"We call him our Master Strategist for a reason." Yun smirked "he plays around with his opponent as he figures out how to counter their attacks".

Echo grabbed his scarf and pulled it from around his neck. As Pyrrha jumped back and tossed her spear, he whipped his scarf out and used it to yank the spear from the air. He spun it over his head and grinned.

His red eyes glistened as he slammed the spear into the ground and pulled his scarf from it. Pyrrha panted and fell to one knee.

Echo stepped over to her spear and yanked it from the ground. He whipped his scarf back around his own neck, positioning it perfectly as he walked over to the redheaded warrior.

He handed her weapon back to her and turned to look at Ruby. She bit her lip as Echo walked over to her.

Echo raised his arm and she dropped her weapon in panic. Ruby closed her eyes and let out a whimper.

She felt him place his hand on her head. Opening her eyes, she looked up at him as he patted her on the head.

"Smart" he said.

Echo took his hand off her head and walked past her, out of the arena.

There was nothing but silence.

"So who won?" Yang scratched her head.


	2. Silent Flames

Hello Guys. After a long Hiatus (Due to coursework and stuff) I am back with the second chapter of this reboot. Those of you who see differences may want to go back and read the first chapter again as I recently rewrote and updated, in a different fashion. If you go back you'll discover I made Team GREY second year students instead, I removed Echo's weapon and I made him much more mysterious and over powered than usual. But anyway here's chapter 2. So enjoy. Oh and as a warning, if you haven't seen the entire of Volume 2 yet, this may contain some spoilers.

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><p><span>Chapter 2: Silent Flames.<span>

Shotgun blasts chipped against the tree's. The blade of and axe sliced through the shots that missed the tree's.

"Simulation complete".

The tree's faded. Rinnette and Yun stood face to face as Glaucous stood next to Echo, watching them.

Echo was sat on the floor, cross legged. He wobbled and panted silently.

"Echo are you ok?" Glaucous kneeled down and rested his hand on Echo's shoulder.

He nodded, tiredly.

"So how does he do that?" Weiss came into the hall, with the rest of Team RWBY.

"Oh? Team RWBY right?" Rinnette titled her head "hello".

"Echo is unique" Yun folds her arms "he can focus his aura through dust crystals to create a temporary hologram-like thing of an area".

"Why does he never talk?" Blake asked curiously.

"No idea" Glaucous answered "we've never asked".

"He's been like that for as long as I've known him" Yun shrugged. "He's only ever spoken twice. Once when we first met and again a few days ago".

"When he wrecked Pyrrha and Cardin in the arena" Yang smirked.

Echo got up and looked at Yang. He gestured over to where Yun and Rinnette were stood.

"I believe he's offering to have a match with you" Rinnette grinned, walking over to Glaucous.

Echo nodded, taking her place.

"Are you sure Echo?" Yun bit her lip "you must be exhausted after keeping up that holo-field?"

Echo opened his jacket and picked out a small dust crystal. Yun sighed and moved aside.

"I don't know what's gotten into him lately" she grumbled "all he's been interested in, is training on his own".

"Well miss Xiao Long?" Glaucous sighed. "Do you accept the challenge?"

She stepped over to where Yun had been standing.

"Sure. I could do with a good fight".

Echo shook his head and held up the dust crystal he'd removed from his pocket.

"Seems like Echo has different plans" Rinnette giggled. "He's decided he's putting a Game Mode in play".

"A game mode?" Ruby looked at her skeptically.

"From what we can tell, Echo likes to turn fights into games" Glaucous answered. "Using his ability to create a holographic arena, he can enchant dust crystals to be used for later. He can also apply rules to some of them, turning the arena into a game".

"Looks like he's chosen Search and Destroy" Yun scratched her head again. "Why would he do that?"

"What are the rules?" Weiss folded her arms.

"Instead of the opponent winning, by depleting your aura. There's a point system." Rinnette answered "you simply have to land a hit on your opponent to score a point, then the match resets. Its the best of five rounds".

"I think I understand why he'd pick this when going up against Yang" Blake watched.

Echo flicked the crystal into the air. It landed between him and Yang, then vibrated. The floor became road-like and the ceiling turned into a night sky, stars twinkling.

Yang cracked her knuckles, ready to fight.

The floor shook and buildings erupted from the ground.

Echo tilted his head, his wide grin was just visible from under his scarf. Both him and Yang vanished amongst the buildings. The city seemed to look like an empty version of Vale.

She looked around, her gauntlets clicking as she prepared to counter any attack. A dust crystal bounced on the floor, stopping in front of her.

Yang jumped back as the crystal exploded into a cloud of smoke. The shape of a fist burst from the smoke and the blonde crossed her arms in front of herself in defense.

Echo smirked and yanked her forward by her gauntlets, pulling her out of her block. He flicked her forehead and a ding echoed.

She gritted her teeth a light engulfed them both. When the light cleared, she found herself in another part of Vale.

"You know, you could at least give me a sporting chance" Yang yelled as she looked around.

Echo stepped out in front of her, folding his arms. She darted forward to strike, but he stepped aside.

He hopped aside each time she tried to hit him. His scarf fluttered in the wind.

Yang smirked and grabbed him by his scarf.

"Ack" Echo choked as his scarf tightened around his throat, and Yang slammed her fist into his stomach.

His expression slowly slid into a grin as he became a cloud of black smoke and the bright flash from before repeated itself. She rolled out of the light and was immediately attacked by a rain of black ice.

She dodged the rain, each piece of ice shattering upon hitting the floor. Echo appeared in a poof of black smoke, whipping his scarf around her.

He pulled her towards him and tossed he into the air. Yang began to gag as he spun her around. Covering her mouth with one hand, she pulled one fist back and punched the air, firing shots from her gauntlets.

Echo maneuvered her around, just enough to make her shots miss him. He pulled her back down, slamming her into the ground. Yang groaned as Echo nudged her.

He kneeled down and held out his hand, offering it too her.

"I apologize if I was too rough" she heard a soft, soothing voice and looked up at him.

"Wait, did you just-?"

"This is my illusion. My game. My world. You must understand that no matter how much you manage to hit me, I will always be victorious." the voice echoed, but Echo's mouth never even opened. "you are quite unlike your sister, miss Xiao Long. If I had offered her a sparring match, she would have been sensible enough to turn me down. I am unbeatable, for as long as you agree to play my game".

"There's no need to be formal" the blonde grabbed his hand, and pulled herself up "just call me Yang".

Echo smirked and wrapped his scarf back around himself. "Even in my games, I don't talk often. Consider yourself lucky and think before you agree to a fight next time".

"Why exactly are you giving me this little lesson?"

"I assume you are familiar Neopolitan. An associate of Roman Torchwick. She gave you quite a beating did she not?"

Yang grumbled.

"Focus more on staying alive than winning a fight" Echo's voice sighed, softly. "like Neo, be aware of when an opponent is too much for you. And if it is necessary for you to fight, concentrate on stalling not winning".

"Yeah, Yeah. How do you know all that anyway?" Yang rolled her eyes.

"Well I wouldn't be mysterious if I just told you. Perhaps when the others arrive you'll understand".

"Others?"

"You'll see soon enough". he smiled "unfortunately for you, taking my hand counted as a forfeit".

"Wha-!"

The illusion shatter and Echo grinned, before turning and walking away.

"Echo you're very devious" Rinnette giggled "I just wish you'd talk every once in a while".

He shook his head and sat down on the floor.

"The rest of you are welcome to spar with us, if you wish?" Glaucous smiled.

"It would be nice to practice with another team." Yun sighed "Echo seems quite interested in you all, so that's good enough for me".

Yang grumbled, taking a seat on the floor outside the battlefield area.

"Well we might as well" Weiss shrugged.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt" Ruby nodded "I'd love to see what your weapons are like".

Blake remained quiet, she watched Yun as her yellow ears twitched.

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><p>To be continued...<p> 


	3. The Dragon and The Scientist

So it's kinda been a really long Hiatus, and in that time the Great Monty Oum passed away. But lets just get one with the story shall we. I'm really sorry about the Hiatus.

I'm not actually continuing on from the cliffhanger in the last chapter like I originally planned. Instead I'm going with a bit of a time skip. I originally intended to have all of Team RWBY face off against Team GREY one by one, but I figured it better to get the story rolling rather than doing something trivial like that.

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><p><span>Chapter 3: The Dragon and The Scientist.<span>

A Week had Past.

Team GREY were in their usual training room, joined by RWBY and JNPR; who watched them as they sparred.

"Alright, I give" Rinnette sighed, putting her axe back on her back. "You win",

Yun yelped in glee then cracked her knuckles. "Alright, come on Echo. It's time I finally forced you to at least use your weapon".

"Weapon?" Ruby asked, curiously "you mean he actually has one?"

"Correct" Glaucous responded "though from what I can tell, he needs to be greatly challenged to actually decide to use it".

"What kinda weapon is it?" Weiss inquired.

"No clue" Rinnette shrugged "we don't even know what he calls it".

Echo remained seated on the bench.

"Come on Echo" Yun Insisted.

Footsteps came from down the hall and Echo raised his head.

Glynda Goodwitch entered the room, and Echo got up.

"Mr Slate. Your sister has arrived." She stated "though I assume you already knew that".

Echo nodded and proceeded to follow Glynda out the room.

"Sister?" Nora tilted her head.

"He has a Sister?" Yun stuttered "since when?!"

"You didn't know this?" Pyrrha asked "I would have thought being his best friend, you'd know if he had a sister?"

"Come on guys" Rinnette charged out the door "let's go too!"

"We really shouldn't" Glaucous sighed.

"Come on. It'll be fun".

The groups followed Echo and Glynda too Professor Ozpin's office. They leaned against the door, trying to listen in.

"Echo!" a voice said proudly. "You been doing ok lil' brother?"

There was no response.

"I hope you don't mind that she brought me along" another voice stated.

Still no response.

"That's good" The female voice sighed. "It has been a while since you and Silver last saw each other."

The door clicked open and the groups all yelled as they fell into the office.

"I told you we shouldn't be doing this." Glaucous rolled his eyes, looked down at the others since he was the only one to not have fallen over.

"It looks like we have a few eavesdroppers" stated the owner of the male voice.

His hair was a glistening silver and his eyes, a vibrant orange. On his head, rested a pair of goggles.

Echo waved his, sleeve covered, hand at them in greeting.

"So these are your team mates and friends?" the girl asked. She wore a tank top that only just covered her chest and jade trousers. Her hair was a vibrant Jade and she shared Echo's grey eyes.

Echo nodded.

"So I assume you've heard?" Silver asked.

Echo seemed to speak in response. His mouth moved, but no sound came out.

"Still the same as always, little brother" Jade rolled her eyes.

Echo shrugged.

"What are you on about?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Confidential I'm afraid, Ruby" Ozpin took a sip from his mug.

Yun got up. "So who are these two?"

"Ah allow us to introduce ourselves." Silver nodded "Silver Argent, Scientist and Hunter".

"You look the same age as us" Blake folded her arms.

"Well I'm not an official Hunter. I don't attend any academy because I'm more a Scientist than a Hunter." he responded "but Echo is an old friend of mine, and Jade is acting as my Hunter Teacher, in place of attending an Academy".

"Well, now Silver has introduced himself, let me have a go." Jade grinned "I'm Jade Slate. Echo's Older Sister and Guardian, and a fully Graduated Huntress".

"You're a fully graduated Huntress?" Weiss folded her arms "your outfits is a little lewd, for a Huntress".

"To each their own, little heiress" Jade smirked.

Weiss grumbled.

"So who is the stronger one out of you guys?" Yun grinned.

"Echo" Jade let out a little laugh. "Doesn't matter that I'm an actual Huntress, in a one on one fight Echo would always win".

"His Semblance is one in a million" Silver smiled "it's ultra rare, and it makes him practically unbeatable".

"What is his Semblance exactly?" Pyrrha inquired.

"Want to know what let him beat one of the top Huntress Students, without a weapon Miss Nikos?" Jade giggled.

"His Semblance is something called Aura Manipulation." Silver answered the question "I can't go into too much detail, but I can say that part of it allows him to Mimic the Semblance of a person".

"I think the name is rather self explanatory. I would appreciate if you ceased to say anything more, Silver" Echo tilted his head.

"Never thought I'd hear you talk again." Jade raised her eyebrows "you ok?"

Echo shook his head.

"You didn't have to tell me that anyway Echo. Just take it easy for a moment" Silver caught Echo as he stumbled.

"What's wrong with him?" Ruby stepped forward "is he ok?"

"Aura overload" Jade rolled her eyes "when he was younger his Semblance was a bit wild. For some reason his silence allowed him to control it better, most likely because it helped him focus more".

"Though his semblance is probably more in balance by now." Silver sighed "I suppose his aura is still used to the limiter and overloads his aura with surrounding energies when he talks too much".

Echo waved his hands and shook his head, gesturing his hand in a circle.

"Oh I get it" Jade rubbed her chin "his circle of range has expanded around the entire academy".

"That makes sense" Silver nodded.

"So why are you even here?" Yun folded her arms.

"We came to personally request Echo for a mission" Jade smiled.

Echo regained his posture and let go of Silver. He gestured at Glaucous.

"You don't need my permission if your own sister is requesting your assistance" he answered.

Echo shook his head and looked towards Jade and Silver. His mouth moved again, but no sound came out.

"Oh, I see" Jade nodded.

"What is he doing?" Nora tilted her head, confusedly. "It looks like he's talking but he's not".

"I've seen this once before" Yun answered. "Its sort of like telepathy. He taps into the aura of a person, or multiple people, and sort of manipulates it so they sorta sense what he's saying. It's weird and hard to fully explain. You don't hear him, you just kinda know".

"I guess it's settled then" Jade sighed "All of Team GREY are coming along".

"Wait what?" Yun blinked then turned towards Jade.

"Why don't we take the other two teams along with us?" Silver shrugged "as long as Professor Ozpin agrees, it could be good practice for them".

"Since Jade will be with them, I approve" Ozpin nodded.

"Thank you, Professor" Jade smiled.

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><p>Outside the Academy, the two teams gathered.<p>

"We're going to be dropped off deep in the Forever Falls" Silver climbed aboard the aircraft.

"So what is this mission about?" Blake inquired.

Echo looked at Glaucous.

"I assume from the way you're looking at me, this mission is to do with the Marlow bandit clan" he let out a sigh.

"Marlow Bandit Clan?" Jaune scratched his head, confusedly.

"Everyone has something that pushes or pushed them towards becoming a Hunter or Huntress" Jade let out a chuckle. "I'm no different, nor is Silver or any one of the Hunters and Huntresses across the world".

"For me, it was to show the world that a Marlow can be a force for good." Glaucous bowed his head "my father is the head of a Bandit Clan, one which I was supposed to take over. But I abandoned it to become a Hunter".

"Well, we're going to take down the Marlow clan." Silver smiled softly "so this is your chance to prove what good a Marlow can really do".

"Regardless of whether we are facing my Father or nor, I will put 100% effort into this mission as I always do" Glaucous nodded.

"Wait, why hasn't anyone gone to stop them before now?" Ruby pointed out.

"Well according to a report the bandits plan on stealing an ancient Dust crystal attuned with the Element of Fire." Jade responded "I jumped on the mission immediately, Fire is my Element of course".

"She couldn't exactly leave me behind" Silver sighed. "But we figured, since the crystal is supposedly ancient and powerful, we'd bring Echo along. Since he'd be handy in possibly disarming anyone who tries to use the crystal".

"Makes sense considering his expertise in the use of Dust Crystals and from what you've described of his Semblance" Pyrrha nodded.

"Just remember Echo, this isn't a game. You can't go around creating your own rules in an actual mission" Jade glared at him, but he just shrugged in response.

"You say that Jade, but Echo always comes through in the end" Silver laughed.

The aircraft lifted off the ground and began to rise into the air. Wind rushed around the rotor blades.

It began to fly towards the distant red forest as the sun glared down upon Beacon Academy and the city of Vale.

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><p>"Was it really a good idea to allow Teams RWBY and JNPR to company them" Glynda inquired.<p>

Ozpin looked out of the window.

"Those two teams are closer to Team GREY than any other teams in the entire of Beacon." he responded "over these next few months I expect them to venture out on my misadventures with Team Grey".

"But why?"

"All four of Team Grey have their reasons for wanting to be Hunters. All four of them have a past that they regret. And in time their pasts will begin to come back to haunt them, so who better to accompany them than their friends?"

"Understandable, I suppose".

"They bring out the best in each other. All of Team GREY. And starting with their leader, their past are starting to emerge. I look forward to seeing how they'll handle it".

Ozpin stared out the window. The distant air craft, was a speck in the reflection on his glasses.

End of Arc 1

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><p>To Be Continued...<p>


	4. The Marlow Clan

Arc 2: The Bandit Prodigy

Chapter 4: The Marlow Clan.

The teams walked through the deep forest.

"So how many camps have we taken down?" Jade put her flintlock pistol away.

"Ten" Silver folded his arms "we haven't managed to get any information, because you keep going in and burning everything before we get a chance to capture and interrogate any of the bandits".

"It's all part of my plan" she giggled. "they'll run to their main camp and inform their boss, then he'll come for us and we can take him out".

"And she calls herself a Huntress" Weiss groaned and muttered under her breath. "She's just a dumb floozy!"

"It won't be that easy" Glaucous folded his arms. "My father, Oxford Marlow, usually has his five Bandit Elites with him at all times".

"I suppose that's something I'd do if I were a Bandit Leader." Jaune shrugged "have a personal set of guards with me at all times".

"How long have we even been at this?" Yun groaned "a few days?"

"About right" Blake sighed.

A shadow passed overhead. A large Nevermore flew over the forest.

Echo lowered himself onto one knee.

"Oh, now this'll be interesting" Jade grinned. "You all might want to cover your ears".

Echo pulled back his arm, then slammed his bare hand into the floor. A cold chill rushed over everyone.

The air seemed to tremble and vibrate wildly. It created an immense noise, which seemed similar to that of an engine but much louder.

"What's going on?!" Yang yelled, covering her ears.

"Aura Vortex. Part of his Semblance" Silver yelled back, also covering his ears. "He's checking for more Grimm in the area. If he finds any Grimm aura's, he'll completely drain them and kill them before we have a chance".

"Seems overpowered to me!" Jaune yelled.

"It is" Jade responded "though this technique does have it's drawbacks. It takes immense concentration and he can't use it on Non-Grimm creatures due to the resulting death of anything he drains the aura of, using it".

"On the plus side if there are any humans in the area, besides us, he'll know about them before they're even close" Silver yelled.

Echo removed his hand, resulting in a momentary burst of harmless energy in the form of a blast of wind.

"Grimm threat Neutralized?" Jade asked.

Echo nodded.

"Any Non-Grimm, humanoids in the area?" Silver inquired

Echo held up his hand, gesturing the number five then one.

"Six?" Yun asked "where are they?"

Echo pointed.

"Well let's go then" Jade giggled, rushing off.

Yun raced off after her.

Echo waved his hand in a panic, but everyone seemed to follow after Jade.

"What's wrong Echo?" Glaucous asked.

"Wait" Silver came up to them both "Echo, the targets aren't moving are they?"

Echo shook his head.

"It's a trap then" Glaucous clenched his fist.

Echo nodded "The layout of their positions indicates it's a trap. But no one ever stops too think that I might want to tell them that."

"We need to warn them" Silver bit his lip. "Come on!"

Silver and Glaucous raced off after the others.

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><p>Jade and Yun were the first to enter the clearing.<p>

Everyone else followed.

"We've come quite a bit away from where we were." Jade let out a sigh "we probably should have asked how far away they were".

"I think Echo is missing" Yun looked around "we'll have to wait for a moment for him to catch up, I guess".

Jade took a step forward as Silver and Glaucous dashed into the clearing.

"It's a trap!" Silver yelled, just as Jade tripped the thin line of shadows that cut through the clearing.

Black static fizzled and expanded around the clearing, in the form of a cage.

"Oh" Jade blinked "oops".

"Well, well, well." A voice came from the surrounding forest "what do we have here?"

They walked through the shadows making up the cage. In front was a large man, similar in appearance to Glaucous. Behind him were five figures all dressed in cloaks.

"Oxford" Glaucous gritted his teeth.

"Glaucous, my son" the large man responded "how nice to see you again? Have you come to your senses and decided to return to your families legacy?"

The blue haired hunter looked away.

"I assume you are Oxford Marlow then?" Jade folded her arms "this is a nice little trap you have set up".

"I assume you are the children destroying my camps?" Oxford responded "I assumed you'd be heading in this direction at some point".

"I am Jade Slate, Huntress. Either surrender quietly or we'll take you by force".

Oxford laughed "you really think I'd be scared of a bunch of children?"

"Force it is then" Jade drew her pistol and took a step forward to fire.

"Jade wait!" Glaucous tried to warn her.

Before she had a chance to fire her weapon, a shotgun blast hit her gut and forced her back into the shadowy wall of the cage.

Electrical static surged around her, and she fell to the floor.

"Nice try, little mouse" Oxford scoffed.

"Jade, are you ok?" Silver helped her up.

"Can your Gauntlets break this cage?" she groaned, looking up at him.

"I doubt it. This static isn't even static, it's pure darkness".

"Damn it!" she stumbled back to her feet, with Silver's help "where's Echo?!"

Silver looked around. He'd assumed Echo had followed him and Glaucous, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Oxford pulled his fist back, seemingly aiming at nothing.

"We have nowhere to run!" Glaucous gulped, biting his lip.

His father slammed his fist into the air. A burst of energy erupted from the strike.

They all went into a frozen panic. Their eyes closed as they expected the burst to consume them.

It echoed. The sound of energy fizzling out of existance.

They opened their eyes. The cage had fizzed away, and so had the burst of energy.

"Echo" Jade smiled happily.

"Laying a trap around the trap" Glaucous' expression shifted from fear, to relief. "That's why you're our strategist".

"Who- Who are you?!" Oxford growled.

Echo gave no response.

"Elites!"

The cloaked figures came from behind their leader. Echo pulled back his fist and repeated the same thing that Oxford had done. A burst of energy engulfed Oxford and the Elites.

The energy faded. Oxford was still standing but had stumbled back.

"How- How did you do that?"

Echo gestured to him. A gesture that could only be described as the equivalent of stating; 'Bring it on'.

"So that's what you meant when you described his Semblance" Glaucous chuckled.

"Why do you think we brought him along?" Silver grinned.

"Elites. Retreat for now!" Oxford growled.

Echo smiled softly, his grey eyes began to let off a light glow. He stomped his foot into the dirt. A surge of energy erupted through the entire forest, engulfing the five Elites and leaving the leader unharmed.

While Echo was focused, Oxford took the moment flee into the forest.

The energy pulled back to Echo, then erupted out again. The Elites vanished and Echo's eyes stopped glowing.

"Spacial Displacement" Jade's eyes widened in surprise "since when did you learn how to do that?"

Echo reach beneath his shirt and pulled out a locket on a chain.

"Your Locket?" Silver tilted his head.

"The Locket that Dad gave him" Jade smiled "I understand".

"What just happened?" Nora looked so confused, you could almost see the question mark above her head.

"Echo used a Spacial Displacement Semblance" Jade responded.

"Did he mimic that from one of the Elites?" Pyrrha inquired "because such an ability could result in problems along the line".

Echo shook his head and clutched his locket.

"That locket was given too Echo by a Hunter named Laurel Slate." Silver gave a pained, emotional expression "He's- well he's missing".

"It has a picture of our family in it" Jade sighed "before our parents went missing. Both of them were hunters, and we miss them both".

"We know how it feels to lose family" Yang wrapped her arm around Ruby.

"Yaaaang!" Ruby blushed and pushed her away.

Echo put the locket away.

"Echo probably used the residue Aura on the locket to copy our father's Semblance." Jade rubbed her stomach, where the blast had hit her "I suppose he had a strategy that required its use, or he wouldn't have used up any of the residue Aura at all".

Echo smiled and nodded.

"I think I understand" Silver folded his arms. "Divide and Conquer, right? With the Elites divided they'll be easier to take out. We divide into six groups, one for each elite and Oxford himself".

Echo nodded again. He placed his fingers on his head and something seemed to ping around through the minds of the others.

"So these are the teams and directions of our designated Elite?" Jade grinned "alright then".

"You've only divided us into five groups." Glaucous pointed out "Weiss, Nora, and Jade.

Pyrrha, Rinnette and Jaune.

Yang, Ren and Yun.

Blake and Silver.

Finally; Myself, Ruby and You".

Echo nodded.

"He must have some sort of strategy behind it" Silver shrugged.

Echo nodded.

"I think I understand, regardless" Glaucous sighed "I just wanted to be sure. We're going after the top Elite, the one with the most powerful Aura, aren't we?"

Echo nodded again.

"Why is that important?" Ruby asked.

"Because he's the most trusted one." Rinnette frowned "and I bet Glaucous knows exactly who is is".

"Well regardless, we're dividing up." Jade waved "if any of you get into trouble, just shoot a signal shot into the air".

They all nodded and divided along their separate paths.

* * *

><p>To Be Continued...<p> 


	5. See No Evil

So in response to a review left on the first and second chapter, assuming the guy actually has read on this far and that you guys actually read reviews, I have a few things to say about Echo. First of all, the reason why he's so quiet; Jade and Silver pointed out that his silence eases his Semblance, that isn't actually true. It's what the characters themselves think, but the comment isn't true. Course I won't go too much into that because Spoilers.

Secondly, Echo's Semblance; The reviewer commented that terrain manipulation or something could be Echo's semblance. To answer a few thing, Echo is an Expert at Aura Manipulation, that being his Semblance. The reason he can create his own little worlds is because Echo is kinda special in the fact that, unbeknownst to the other characters, he actually has more than one semblance. To say any more on the matter would ruin the mystery, and the only reason I'm mentioning it is to plant the question in your heads:

How?

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5: See No Evil.<span>

He groaned.

"Who was that guy" he grumbled, discarding his cloak "he shattered Jet's shadow cage without even a flinch. Where even am I, and how long have I been out?"

He ran his fingers through his sleek purple hair.

He flinched for a moment, his eyes widening.

Out of the bushes, she came. Her hammer was risen, ready to slam down.

"Bam!" Nora yelled, her hammer smashing into the floor. It seemingly passed right through him.

"That was close" he took quick, panicked breaths.

"An illusion" the blade of Weiss' rapier darted beneath his chin, purposely missing his throat.

He reached for the shotgun on his belt.

"Don't even think about it" Jade pressed her gun up to his head, on the opposite side that Weiss was stood.

Nora held her hammer over her shoulder as she approached him.

His eyes darted around, looking at each of the three women in panic. He gulped.

"Do you have a name, or do you just go by Elite one, two, three and so on?" Weiss asked.

"Dexter Liseran" he responded.

"Well this was a quick victory" Nora grinned.

His panicked expression turned into a smirk.

"Always plan three steps ahead of the enemy, the moment you spot them" he reached for, and grabbed, his shotgun.

Jade fired and Weiss jabbed with her rapier. The attacks shifted straight through him.

"Another Illusion?!" Weiss gasped.

A shotgun blast hit Jade and she was pushed back. This time she manged to stay on the ground and keep her posture.

"They call me the Illusionist." Dexter laughed "How can you hit something, when you're not sure if it's even real".

Jade groaned and fell to one knee.

"Miss Slate?!" Nora went over to check on Jade as Weiss charged in to combat the Bandit.

"He's the one who shot me!" Jade panted, holding her side and clutching her gun "twice".

"You're still recovering from your last hit?" Nora asked "you should take a moment to rest".

Weiss jabbed forward, but her strike went through her opponent. She just barely deflected the oncoming shotgun blast which came from another direction.

"How do I fight an opponent who uses illusions to make copies of himself?!" she thought to herself, biting her lip.

She slammed her blade into the ground, in an attempt to let out a burst of dust energy and freeze Dexter. Weiss gasped as she heard a shot come from above her.

Just before the shotgun blast hit her, it was deflected by another shot.

Jade had fired her gun to stop the blast hitting her temporary team mate.

Weiss darted back over to her and Nora.

"Thank you, Jade" she bowed her head.

"Don't thank me" Jade responded, getting to her feet as Dexter landed in front of them. "Lets just work together".

"Got a plan?" Nora took her hammer into both her hands.

"This guy shot me twice, cowardly uses illusions, and is a completely awful person." Jade's grey eyes began to glow her hands suddenly burst into green flames. Her skin became rough, hard and scaled. As she gritted her teeth, it was visible that they grew sharper.

"Jade Slate." Weiss smiled confidently "I remember now, they also referred too her as the 'Jade Dragon' in reference to her Semblance; Draconic Essence".

Her gun clicked and rearranged itself, becoming similar in style to the hilt of a sword. From the empty hilt, erupted bright jade flames in the form of a blade.

"Let's take this bastard down!" Jade growled.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere.<p>

Pyrrha, Jaune, and Rinnette marched through the forest.

"Our target couldn't be too far, could they?" Rinnette groaned.

"We don't even know what kind of person our target is." Pyrrha rolled her eyes "we need to be careful".

Jaune sighed, letting out a large exhale of air. His eyes suddenly opened, widely.

"Pyrrha, Rin!" he pushed them both down to the floor. Just in time to save them from what ever caused the trees to decay.

"Aww. I missed" a voice echoed from the dead forest surrounding. It was definitely female, but she let out a giggle that sounded like the hissing of a snake.

"Who's there?" Rinnette got back to her feet.

She tossed her cloak away, it seemed to decay into nothing as it flew aside.

"Olive Viper. Elite Bandit." she introduced herself "but you can grovel and my feet and call me mistress, cutie".

She winked at Jaune.

He twitched a little, crawling backwards as Pyrrha also got up.

She stuck her tongue out and pulled it back in. Similar to what a Snake does with it's tongue.

Rinnette recklessly charged forward.

Olive giggled again and took a deep breath, before exhaling a cloud of purple gas.

Rinnette managed to stop herself, just in time. She swung her axe through the cloud, just as she stopped.

The cloud dissipated as her axe cut through it.

"Interesting" Olive let her tongue hang out her mouth. "My gas can decay even the strongest metals. So why'd your axe not disintegrate?"

"Labrys" she clutched her axe tightly "Its blade is made of a super rare metal with purifying properties".

Olive hissed.

Pyrrha rushed in and Rinnette dived aside, to give her room.

Her spear was met with a dagger, blocking the strike.

"Nice try" Olive inhaled, then exhaled more decaying gas. Pyrrha held up her shield just in time to block it.

Olive kicked her back and twirled the dagger around her fingers.

Pyrrha groaned, and held her hand over her mouth.

Rinnette grabbed her as she collapsed.

"What did you do to her?!" she growled.

"She must have breathed in some of my decaying gas." Olive giggled "while only lethal in large doses, it does have a habit of decaying a person's Aura".

Rinnette lay Pyrrha down and picked Labrys back up.

"You! You bitch!" she gritted her teeth.

Her axe began to glow with blue static. She charged forward.

Olive blocked with her dagger, knocking the axe up. She then quickly slashed at Rinnette's gut.

The twin-tailed axe wielder grunted. Her jaw was suddenly pulled open and Olive yanked, almost as if she was trying to pull her opponents jaw off. She inhaled them blew out another burst of gas, right into Rinnette's mouth.

Rinnette coughed and spluttered.

"Rin!" Jaune scrambled to his feet.

She was kicked away by Olive, but Jaune managed to catch her.

"Just leave em both for dead, cutie." Olive giggled "we can be an amazing couple. I'll be the mistress and you'll be my loyal boyfriend".

Jaune lay Rinnette on the ground. She was just barely hanging onto her life.

"I have to do this" Jaune thought to himself as he drew his sword and shield. "I need to finish this as quick as I can, or those two won't make it".

"Oh? Are you gonna fight me now?" Olive cackled "how cute. Fine, I'll show you just who your mistress really is. I'll make you grovel and beg for mercy!"

Jaune bit his lip.

* * *

><p>Dexter panted in panic. Jade's Draco Midori's sword form was exceedingly dangerous. He'd almost been scorched several times now.<p>

"Bam!"

He was suddenly taken by surprise and Nora's hammer slammed into his back.

He gasped and choked as he was flung through the air. Luckily he was caught by one of Weiss' glyphs.

"What's wrong Illusionist?" Jade bared her fangs "can't you illusion your way out of all this?"

She darted up and lashed out at him with her flaming sword. He blocked with the barrel of his shotgun.

The glyph faded and he dropped, only to be struck by a chain of ice spikes then back into Nora's Hammer.

Dexter managed to regain his balance. He cocked his shotgun and fired, but Jade deflected the bullet with her blazing sword.

"She's crazy!" he thought to himself "is she even human?!"

Dexter clenched his teeth as he panted. Jade charged and tore through another illusion.

"Stop Running" she growled "Bastard".

"I can't keep this up" he thought "I need to kill them quick".

He didn't even have a chance to react as a flaming fist slammed into his face. Time seemed to slow as the strike made contact. Jade's fist slammed into his jaw, harder than Nora's Hammer, or anything else, had ever hit him. He was surprise it didn't break his jaw.

Dexter was sent flying into a nearby tree. Red leaves fell off the branches as they shook.

"I'm tired of this shit!" he grumbled.

The moment Jade charged in for another attack, he slammed his hands onto her head.

For Weiss and Nora, Jade just seemed to stop.

For Jade on the other hand, she found herself in a familiar place. It was a war zone.

* * *

><p>Once golden fields, now ravaged by flames.<p>

Once Marvelous Trees, reduced to nothing but charcoal.

Once Blue sky, now filled with black smoke.

Nothing but chaos and destruction.

She trembled, and fell to her knee's.

Tears streamed down her face.

At the top of a mountain of corpses, was a figure she recognized all too well.

"No" tears dripped from he chin as they streamed down her face "Echo".

Her mind flashed back, back the young brother she'd raised on her own. To all the friends he's made.

Jade's tears dried up. Only one image embedded itself in her mind, and it shattered the nightmare around her.

* * *

><p>"What did you do to her?" Weiss yelled.<p>

"I simply entrapped her in the illusion of her own nightmare" Dexter laughed.

"Nightmare?" Nora bit her lip.

An exhale of relief echoed through the woods.

Dexter gasped in pain. He felt something in his spine, crack.

He turned, to see Jade "But how? You were- I trapped you in a nightmare!"

She cracked her knuckles.

"A bad dream or two aren't gonna hurt." Jade responded "Miss Schnee".

Weiss nodded. A glyph appeared under Dexter and he was suddenly blasted into the air.

"Bam!"

That was all Nora said as she darted into the air and slammed her hammer into Dexter's already damaged back.

He didn't like what he was heading for. The moment he got close enough, Jade slammed her fist into him while he was still in the air.

Time slowed as he felt the impact. It was indescribable. Far stronger than the strike that had hit his jaw. He felt a few ribs crack as her fist sunk into his body. All in a moment it came rushing too him, unimaginable pain. He coughed and blood rolled down his chin, out his mouth. His eyes were saucers.

Jade's fist arced. The moment she hit him her strike had curve and pushed him into the ground below. The earth shatter and Dexter was left in a crater.

His consciousness was fading.

"Let you remember this" Jade glared at him "I'm now your nightmare".

Dexter's eyes closed.

"Is he-?" Weiss gulped.

The flames around her hands subsided and Jade put her gun away.

"Nah, just unconscious" she responded, her dragon-like features fading away.

"So you were stuck in a nightmare?" Nora tilted her head, curiously.

"Not just any nightmare. My greatest nightmare".

"How'd you break out of it?" Weiss put her rapier away and folded her arms.

Jade tossed some kind of device into the crater with Dexter. It activated and created a bubble around him.

"Lock Sphere" she shrugged "Silver's invention".

"Are you just ignoring me now?" the heiress grumbled.

"You really wanna know?" Jade sighed.

"Of course" Nora and Weiss nodded in response.

"I just thought of my brother's smile" Jade smiled softly, then lay down on the grass. She looked up at the bright blue sky.

* * *

><p>To Be Continued...<p> 


	6. Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Chapter 6: Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

Yang punched through the fire, dissipating it completely.

His hair was spiked, and shaped in a way, which resembled flames. He gasped as Yun's staff slammed into his back.

As he was flung he managed to drop out of the air and land, but stumbled slightly.

"Neat trick" Yang grinned at the blonde faunus.

"It's called 'Crash'. It's my semblance." Yun responded "as long as I have something to use as a conduit, I can unleash an explosive blast of my Aura".

"Interesting" Ren nodded, reloading his guns.

Orion smirked, before unleashing a burst of flames.

Yun grabbed the hooks on the far edges of her staff and yanked it apart. She fired and the shots dispersed the flames.

"Dual Shotguns, Mother fucker!" she grinned as her opponents smirk turned to a grimace.

"I was an idiot to think I could have ambushed them when there's a faunus in the group" he grumbled.

Flame Orion, A Bandit Elite. He was at a disadvantage, seeing as he was outnumbered by three opponents who all used Dual weapons.

He'd attempted to go after the one with the staff, seeing as she'd only had a staff. But it was now revealed she, interestingly, had dual shotguns.

Orion cracked his knuckles.

"Is that really all you've got" he chuckled "I've seen mice that hit harder".

Yang gritted her teeth.

"Calm down, flame for brains." Yun held one of her guns out in front of her, to stop her charging in "he's just trying to aggravate us".

"I agree" Ren nodded "we shouldn't let him get to us".

Orion laughed "you guys really are pathetic if you think you can stop us".

Yang growled, but managed to keep herself from charging in.

"So what exactly do you want with that Dust Crystal?" Yun inquired.

"World Domination?" Orion shrugged "honestly, I got no idea. Our boss is the only one who really knows".

"So what you're saying, is that you're not important enough to know?" Yun smirked.

"What?" he responded "what did you just say?"

"I said, you're obviously not as important if you don't know what's going on".

"You're saying, that I'm not important?" Orion growled.

"Well duh. Do you even get what's going on?" she responded "divide and conquer. We've split up to take you all out, and our strongest member has gone off to take out your strongest Elite, then your boss".

"Impossible. No one can beat Jet and Oxford." Orion gritted his teeth "that's impossible".

"You saw how he deflected your bosses attack. Used it against you all. Why would it be impossible, even your boss had stumbled back".

Orion was slowly losing his cool. Yun had taken his own weapon of words, and twisted it against him.

His hair seemed to flicked with a light aura of flames. His teeth we clenched as he growled, angrily.

A burst of flames exploded out, but Yun easily tore through it with her shotgun shots. Her ears twitched as she grinned.

Yang punched through any remaining flames, and Ren shot through them.

The battle continued.

* * *

><p>Jaune stumbled back. Viper had knocked him back after blocking his sword with her dagger.<p>

He groaned.

"Ok, well come on then cutie" Viper approached him "enough joking around"

He lowered his sword and shield. As she got close enough, and lowered her guard, Jaune took the opportunity to slam his shield into her face and roll back.

Viper stumbled and twitched, her eyes instantly filled with rage.

"So you want to play hard to get" she growled, a drop of blood trickling from her nose "I'm going to show you that you're mine and mine only!"

"My name is Jaune Arc" Jaune gulped, trying to be confident "and I don't care who you are, but you hurt my friend and team mate and I'm not gonna stand by and let you get away with it."

Viper darted forward, slashing her dagger down. It collided with Jaune's shield and the clashing of metal echoed, waking up the Weakened Pyrrha.

"Rin?" Pyrrha looked up weakly. She saw Rinnette laying there, unmoving. "Rin?! Jaune?!"

She looked up at the blonde, who was barely holding his own against Viper

The Bandit Elite managed to lightly cut her opponents face. Her expression changed to a mix of rage and satisfaction.

A light glow coated over Jaune. His cut healed instantly.

"What? You can heal?!" Viper gasped, he tongue hanged out her mouth "that's unfair."

"Say's the one who uses poison gas to weaken her opponent." Jaune took the opportunity to dart forward and knock Viper back with his shield again.

Viper growled, swinging her dagger angrily. Jaune blocked again, stumbling as her sword clashed with his shield.

"I'm gonna knock you down, and fill your lungs with poison!" The bandit elite growled "unless you become mine!"

Jaune pushed back against her, pushing her dagger up. Her focus on trying to push him back give him the chance to kick her in the gut.

She gasped as she was knocked back.

"That was sneaky!" Viper charged forward. Her dagger slipped under Jaune's shield as he tried to block. She knocked it aside and cackled.

Jaune managed to block her jab with his blade.

Sparks scattered as metal scratched against metal. Jaune ducked as Viper exhaled a cloud of purple gas.

"How do you even do that?" he rolled back.

"Lemme tell you a little secret." she giggled "I curl my tongue, to create a funnel for the gas to come out of. I couldn't breath it out otherwise. But air converts to poison in my lungs, the small passage way that my tongue creates compresses it when I breath it out".

Jaune gulped "I still don't get it".

"Also, my Dagger has an Decay attribute" Viper wiggled her hanging tongue. "so even if you block, eventually I'll decay through your blade".

Viper charged forward while he was momentarily open. He knocked his sword from his grip and kicked him down.

Her fist slammed into his face. She cackled insanely as her fist rapidly slammed into him.

Jaune got up, groaning in pain. Battered and bruised, the Bandit Elite grabbed him by his collar and lifted him up with one hand. She used the other to hold her dagger to his face.

"You're beaten" she said to him "now be mine or I'll kill you and your friends over there."

Jaune smiled weakly and gestured for her to come in closer. Viper pulled him closer to her.

"Go. To. Hell." he chuckled at her, weakly.

She growled and held her dagger closer "If I can't have you, no one will!"

Jaune closed his eyes and suddenly began to glow white. The glow expanded and exploded from him suddenly.

He slightly opened his eyes again. The glow was much brighter and warmer than it had been when Jaune had been beaten up by Cardin all those months ago.

"Gah!" Viper screamed "stop that!"

Being so close to a glow that bright, it was obviously painful. She couldn't even see where she was flailing with the dagger.

Her eyes flung open and she screamed, letting go of Jaune.

The glow faded and the blonde knight groaned.

In her panic, her own weapon had become her undoing. When she'd blindly flailed around with her dagger, she'd ended up cutting off the section of her tongue that had been hanging out her mouth.

The blades decay attribute had disintegrated the remnant of her tongue, the moment it was cut off.

She trembled. When her eyes had opened, due to the searing pain she'd felt from cutting off her tongue, she had been fully exposed to the glow that Jaune had let off. Her once green eyes had become pale.

She dropped her knife and fell to her knee's.

"I- I can't see" she just stared at nothing. "I can't curl my tongue. I can't do anything".

She fell forward into the ground, losing consciousness. The pain from cutting off her tongue must have been such a shock.

"I won?" Jaune got up. "Rin!"

He turned and raced to Rinnette's side.

Pyrrha managed to gather enough strength to get up.

"Is she?" she whimpered.

"No" Jaune relaxed "it looks like she'll be ok. Even after breathing in an entire cloud of that gas. Team GREY are incredible people".

"That is amazing" Pyrrha smiled "they are incredible if they're all on Rin's level, or even higher".

"It just brings up one question" Jaune let out a sigh "are they even Human?"

"I think you're forgetting about one member" Pyrrha giggled.

"I know about Yun" the blonde sighed "but from what we've seen, Rinnette can take breathe of a whole cloud of poison and survive. Echo is probably strong enough to conquer the world if he wanted. And the other two; we haven't really seen what they can do, but Glaucous is the Leader and we've seen Yun beat Rin in practice. I just- It doesn't feel like they're- well, like they're Mortal".

"I suppose I understand." Pyrrha nodded "let us guard Viper's body till we can report to Jade".

Jaune nodded and sat down, next to Rinnette. Pyrrha sat next to him.

* * *

><p>Orion blocked the shots from their attacks, using his flames.<p>

Neither side could make much contact with each other at this point. Dexter had cooled down a bit, but was still enraged just enough to not try and taunt his opponents.

He gasped and stumbled as a blood curdling scream echoed through the woods.

"Olive?!" he panted in panic, looking up at his opponents "What have you done to her?"

"That was probably the work of one of our groups" Ren tilted his head.

"You guys hurt Olive?!" Flame growled "you're gonna die for that!"

From Orion's hands, two long flame whips extended. He lashed out with one of the whips.

Yang grabbed the whip out the air and yanked. Pulling Orion forward, into her fist. As her fist collided with his gut, she fired a shot.

Orion let out a gasp as he was flung into the air.

He groaned as he managed to land on his feet. The Bandit stumbled.

Lashing out again, he managed to curl a flaming whip around one of Yun's guns. He yanked, trying to pull it from her grasp.

In response she slammed her other gun into the whip, unleashing a blast of Aura and dissipating the flames.

Orion growled, only to be grabbed from behind. He felt Yang's fist hit him in the face.

"Baseball time!" she grinned, swinging into an uppercut with her other hand. He fist hit his chest and she fired another shot.

He was blasted into the air, battered by Ren's gun shots to keep him propelled. His eyes widened as Yun connected her guns back together and swung her staff.

It slammed into him. Time seemed to slow as the metal collided with his chest. The air was tense.

An explosion of Aura erupted from the staff. She swung in in a direction, where the blast would propel Orion into the ground. And that's exactly what happened.

He was slammed into the earth harder than anything he'd ever been hit with. He lay in a deep crater, and his hair was completely singed by the blast. Orion tried to get back up, his energy was running out. Unlike others, who use weapons to fight, he purely uses energy. It only made sense that an attack fuelled by rage would use up more energy than he could muster.

Orion let out a groan as his opponents looked down at him. He couldn't do a thing.

They'd beat him, fair and square.

In an instant, he closed his eyes and lost conciousness.

"That was a lot easier that I thought it would be" Yang shrugged.

"It only makes sense" Ren sighed.

"An enemy using purely their semblance to fight." Yun rolled her eyes "it's obvious that it'd be easier for us".

"So what now?" The fiery blonde smiled.

"We wait" Ren answered.

"And we guard the Bandit" Yun nodded.

They sat and relaxed, around the crater.

* * *

><p>Echo, Ruby, and Glaucous walked deeper into the red forest.<p>

Shadows curled around them as they walked deeper. Darkness approached.

* * *

><p>To Be Continued...<p>


	7. Snakes and Shadows

Chapter 7: Snake and Shadows.

Echo grabbed the shadows, and yanked at them. He pulled out one of the Bandit elites and tossed him just a little distance away.

The bandit immediately regained his posture.

"You knew I was following you?" he asked.

Echo simply nodded.

"Jet" Glaucous bit his lip. "I figured it was you".

"It's nice to see you again, old friend".

"You're not my friend, Jet" the blue haired hunter glared. "You sold me when I was running away".

"It is your responsibility to take over as leader".

"I'd sooner die".

"So be it, if that is what you wish".

A single shadow slashed his arm, before Ruby got in the way.

She groaned as the shadows slashed at her dress.

In an instant the shadows changed direction.

They swarmed into Echo's hand and he shattered them.

"Who are you?" Jet growled "you shattered my cage, absorbed the master's attack, and you redirect my shadows. Just who exactly are you?"

Echo gestured to Glaucous and Ruby, to go on ahead.

"Are you sure, Echo?" his leader clenched his fists "I have a bone to pick with Jet myself".

"I'm sure" Echo answered, with his usual soft smile. "At the most, delaying your father is the most important job. And should be done by you".

Glaucous relaxed as he listened to Echo's voice "I understand. If we keep going this way we'll find him, right?"

Echo nodded.

Glaucous headed off into the forest. Ruby hesitated for a moment.

"He'll need back up" Echo glanced at her "I'll be fine".

She gulped and headed off after the blue haired hunter.

Shadows darted after them, but Echo slammed his heel down into them. His strike shattered the shadows.

"You dare get in my way?" Jet growled.

"Your opponent is me, Jet" Echo smiled, lowering his foot to the ground.

* * *

><p>"So any idea why Echo decided we'd be fine, just the two of us?" Blake inquired, as Silver examined the tree's.<p>

"Not a clue" Silver responded "but I guess he has his reasons".

"I recall you mentioning that you were more of a Scientist than a Hunter?"

"That's true, I guess you could say I have an Electrical personality. One that attunes me to machines, more than combat".

"Interesting" Blake folded her arms.

"Feel free to take off your bow any time." Silver smiled, softly "I don't hold anything against the Faunus, even one that was part of the White Fang".

Blake froze.

"How did you-"

Silver interrupted her "my Aura is Silver. By focusing it, I can see the memories of a machine, weapons included. Your Gambol Shroud has many memories attached too it".

Blake went quiet.

"I have a friend who is a Faunus. Marine Verity, she's a Fox." Silver continued "at a point in her life, she lashed out at humans. That is, until a kind man took her in and raised her, trained her. That man was the same person who raised me, raised Echo, and Jade. I do admit, she seemed to like Echo quite a lot. Maybe it's cause he has such a kind personality, just like his mother. Or maybe it's because he resembles his father".

"So you were raised along side Echo and Jade?" Blake changed the subject "what was Laurel Slate like in person?"

"Cocky" Silver chuckled "just like his Daughter. Echo sort of resembles his father, but Jade inherited his cocky and reckless personality".

"What about their mother?"

"Well except for the provocative way she tends to dress. Jade physically resembles her mother. Echo on the other hand has her personality, and her anger".

"In all honesty, aren't we supposed to be tracking a Bandit, rather than making idle chat?"

Silver shrugged "I find it mood lightening".

A spear flew from the bushes, but Silver simply grabbed it out of the air. As his hand made contact with the hand crafted wooden spear, it turned to ash.

"What was that?" Blake stumbled in shock slightly.

"My Gauntlets allow me to focus my aura into electricity." Silver responded "also, you can come out now. No use hiding".

The figure came out of the thick forestry. His hands were scaled, and his eyes were similar to that of a snake's. Trailing behind him, was a reptilian tail.

"Fang Aurum." The reptilian faunus stated. On his wrists, he wore bands which attached curved blades too the underside of his arm.

"Silver Argent" Silver politely responded.

The bandit suddenly darted forward. Silver blocked his slash, with his gauntlet.

He grunted slightly as he held back the bandit's attack. Static surged through the gauntlets and he pulled back his other hand and punched the bandit in the gut.

Fang stumbled back slightly.

Silver's expression became more serious. He suddenly dashed forward and struck the bandit again. Fang was barely just able to block.

He moved out of the way as Blake sprinted forward and surprised the bandit. Silver formed a bolt of lightning, and threw it when he had an opening. Blake rolled out the way and the bolt hit Fang directly.

Smoke floated off the reptilian bandit from where the bolt had hit. He growled and breathed heavily.

"You're not going to win this." Silver glared at him "you might as well surrender".

"In your dreams." Fang snapped "three of us may have fallen already, but I can at least buy some time for the leader".

"You're outmatched."

"You're underestimating me."

"Well then. Give me a challenge" Silver tilted his head.

Fangs blades glowed a poisonous green. He slashed forward at Silver.

The scientist gasped and quickly blocked. He held his defence as the bandit rapidly slashed.

Blake fired a shot, and Fang jumped back.

"Silver are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Just don't let those blade touch you." He answered "they're poisonous. This will be more difficult than I thought".

* * *

><p>Sharp shadows lashed out at the clam teen, but he easily avoided each one.<p>

"How do you remain so calm, even in the face of danger?" Jet glared at him.

Echo shrugged.

"Refusing to even talk to your opponent?"

"No point" Echo answered, he darted forward and slammed his knee into Jet's gut. He grabbed him by his clothes and tossed him into a tree.

Jet became shadows as he hit the tree. His shadow zig zagged towards Echo.

The grey eyed teen stepped aside and yanked him out of the darkness.

Jet gasped and dispersed into shadows, reforming a little distance away.

"Who even are you?" he gritted his teeth "not even Oxford can just yank me out of my shadow".

Echo simply smiled back at his question.

Jet bit his lip, trying not to loose his posture.

He panted, his breath filled with the rage he was trying to contain.

Shadows darted up from the floor and zig zagged towards Echo. The grey eyed teen simple swung his foot into the darkness, shattering the shadows. Static fizzled and bolts of dark electricity struck around him, but Echo simple stood still without even flinching.

"How?!"Jet gritted his teeth "how can you be so calm? Your life is clearly in danger! How can you stay so calm".

Darkness vibrated around them.

"Because the calmer I am, the angrier you get" Echo smiled softly.

"You're- You're taunting me?!"

Echo nodded.

Jet darted forward, blades of shadows swirling around him. He swung a fist at Echo, but the calm teen simply turned and dodged the strike. He retaliated with a punch of his own, but shattered one of the shadowy blades surrounding the bandit.

He brought his knee up again, and slammed it into Jet.

The bandit dispersed into shadows as Echo's knee hit him. Shadows swirled around and lashed out, but Echo simply stood still and let all the shadows miss him completely.

A single shadow tore through his chest and Jet reformed, smirking victoriously. His expression was short lived as he saw his victim still smiling, even with a shadowy blade through his chest.

"How- How are you still alive?" Jet trembled.

Echo closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The shadows filling the air swirled around as he breathed them in.

"He's- He's breathing in my shadows?!"

His eyes opened, his pupils had turned red. His soft smile became a grin, showing off the sharp fangs that he'd kept hidden. Echo laughed as the shadow through his chest dissipated and the wound healed.

"What- What are you?" Jet gulped.

"I am Echo" he responded "and your shadows are mine to consume and control".

Shadows swirled and lashed out. Jet countered with shadows of his own, but Echo's darkness was to overpowering.

"How are you doing this?"

"Simple. I copied your aura. Your shadows can defend you, but they can't harm me" Echo grinned.

Jet grunted as his shadows shattered, he barely managed to avoid the opposing darkness. Against power like this, it's clear he stood no chance.

He held his arm, where he'd been struck by the darkness. Echo's shadow's dissipated.

"You've seen a glimpse of part of my complete personality" his expression returned to his soft smile.

Jet was still trembling "You may beat me, but you won't defeat our boss".

"Just watch me" Echo suddenly vanished, reappearing in front of Jet.

The last thing Jet saw was darkness as his vision faded.

* * *

><p>Silver rolled out of the way, as Fangs blades slammed down.<p>

"This is definitely harder than I thought" Silver bit his lip.

"Trying to attack while avoiding those blades, is troublesome" Blake tightened her grip on her sword.

Fang sprinted forward, and slashed down. The duo jumped aside.

Blake darted back towards the reptile and slashed. Fang blocked with one of his blades, and swung with the other. While his guard was down, before he could slash at Blake, he was hit with a bolt of electricity from Silver.

Blake kicked Fang in the chest as he turned to try and dart at Silver. In response he turned back and quickly slashed forward. His blade just went through her left over image as she jumped back.

"Here kitty, kitty" Fang growled.

"Forgetting someone again?" Silver's fist slammed into the reptile's back. Static surged through his body.

One of Fangs blades slashed through the scientists clothes and cut against his chest.

Fang knocked Silver back using his tail.

Silver groaned and held his chest.

"Are you ok?" Blake asked.

"I'll be fine" Silver panted "but we need some sort of strategy to take this lizard out".

"Any idea's?"

"I think I might have one" he answered "If I go in head on and distract him, you can come in from behind. I'll momentarily charge your weapon with static and you can strike that lizard down".

"Sounds fine enough".

"Well lets go then".

The duo went back into the fight. Silver slammed his fist into Fang's chest, catching him off guard.

"How are you still so strong?" Fang grunted "the poison on my blades should be effecting your immune system by now".

Silver panted, but his skin let off a light glow as he slammed his fist into Fang again. Static lashed out from his strikes.

Fang began to block with his blades as Silver began to speed up in he strikes.

"Don't have much time left" the scientist groaned as he took heavy breaths.

"I see" Fang smirked "my poison is effecting you after all".

"Blake!" Silver yelled "get ready!"

Fang jumped back, expecting a double attack. Instead a static energy shrouded Silver.

"What?" the reptile gasped "what are you doing?"

"Overcharge" Silver copied the faunus' previous smirk, slamming his fists together in a similar fashion to Yang.

In an instant he was gone and Blake came into Fang's view. Silver had converted his body into static and charged up the Cleaver form of Blake's weapon.

Fang attempted to block with his blades, but as Blake swung her blade static was let loose from it. The metal that made up Fang's weapons heated up as the static overcharged them with electricity. Static held the reptile in place as the cleaver smashed through his blades and hit him square in the chest.

Time froze for an instant, but that instant quickly ended. One moment Fang was being hit by the blade, Blake didn't even see him hit the tree.

It cracked and toppled. The bandit had hit it with such speed and force that the tree had been uprooted.

Blake looked at her blade, stunned "How did-?"

"Neat huh?" a voice came from her weapon.

"What?" she gasped. When she looked at her blade, it seemed like she could make out Silver's face in it.

He stuck his tongue out at her and winked. Static shrouded the cleaver and flowed out of it, reforming into the scientist she'd been partnered with.

"The true form of my Electrical Pulse Semblance." he answered before she could ask "it allows me to act as a living dust charge with physical weapons".

"I've never heard of such a thing" Blake put her weapon away and folded her arms.

"Course not. It's super rare." Silver responded "all five of us have unique Semblances".

"Five?" Blake tilted her head.

"Echo, Jade, Me, Marine, and Nyanza".

"Who?"

"Another guy raised alongside me, Echo, and the others." Silver answered "He's only a year or two younger than Jade. I guess if you consider Jade the leader, and Echo not part of it, then we become Team JSMN".

Blake shrugged.

Silver tossed an object onto the ground. It created a domed barrier over the unconscious Bandit.

"What now?"

"Now, we wait".

* * *

><p>He forcibly yanked the red gem from it's pedestal.<p>

"Though my Elites may have failed me, they bought me enough time to get this." Oxford laughed "With this I can weave powerful fire storms and conquer the world".

A bullet zipped past the crystal.

"Put the crystal down".

"Glaucous" Oxford turned to look at his son "I see you've brought a friend?"

"I said, put the crystal down".

"Or maybe you plan to enslave her? Use her as a tool when you take over the family business?"

Ruby bit her lip and glared at Oxford.

"I won't ask again" Glaucous aimed his guns at his father.

"So you really do plan on becoming a Hunter" Oxford's expression changed to a grimace "you're just like your mother; stupid, sick and weak. Hunter's are a disease on this world".

Glaucous fired a shot.

"Don't talk about my mother like that" It was surprising how well he was keeping his cool.

"Oh my, look at you" Oxford taunted "I bet you feel like a real man shooting at your father like that".

"You're not my father" Glaucous responded "as far as I'm concerned, I never had a father".

"Glaucous" Ruby glanced over at him.

"I don't care about blood relation at this point Ruby." he responded "even if we can't take him down, the least we can do is weaken him somewhat. But let's try our best anyway".

The scythe wielder nodded.

"So it's a fight you want" Oxford laughed, as flames shrouded him "so be it".

The two team leaders darted in, and the fight began.

* * *

><p>To Be Continued...<p> 


	8. Grimdark Bloom

Chapter 8: Grimdark Bloom

Glaucous and Ruby continued their assault on Oxford Marlow.

The leader of Team GREY pelted his father with dust shots at a high speed, moving as quick as he could to avoid the bursts of flaming energy that were used as retaliation.

Ruby fired several shots from a distance, before darting in close. She blocked a punch with her scythe.

"Get out the way!" Glaucous yelled in warning.

She followed his advice, before the flames managed to take hold of her.

"None of this is working" Ruby gulped.

"We need to at least keep him at bay, till the others manage to get here." Glaucous bit his lip "Echo will catch up to us eventually".

"I guess" Ruby whimpered.

The duo split up as Oxford unleashed a wave of flames.

"Try all you like!" he laughed "you, nor anyone else will match up to me!"

Glaucous managed to come up behind him and slam his fist into Oxford's back. A small bubble formed around his fist, then it exploded with a devastating amount of force.

Regardless, it didn't move his father one inch.

Oxford grabbed Glaucous by his coat and tossed him into the Team RWBY leader.

"That should have at least done some damage" Glaucous grunted as he got up. Ruby had barely just avoided him.

"It's the crystal he has." she gripped her Crescent Rose tightly "it's shrouded him in a barrier that we can't break through".

"I've never seen flames so intense before." Glaucous gritted his teeth "but we can't give up".

Ruby nodded and they charged in for another attack.

Glaucous took his father on from the front. He flipped the handles of his gun up and blades extended from the bottom. The blades collided with the barrier as he slashed.

Ruby fired a long distance shot from behind Oxford. It momentarily made him stumble and gave Glaucous an opening to slam his fist into his father's chest. Another burst of devastating energy made Oxford stumble back and growl.

"It seems a powerful enough shot destabilizes the barrier just long enough for me to get a hit in" Glaucous smiled confidently.

He dodged out of the way as he father tried to strike him.

Glaucous managed to get one more extra hit in, just before the flame barrier stabilized.

"So you got a plan now?" Ruby asked as Glaucous managed to get close to her.

"I think so." he answered "shooting from a long distance with your Scythe's rifle seems to destabilize the barrier for a short time. It's probably due to the velocity and speed that the bullet impacts at long distance, seeing as that's what your weapon is built for".

"If you say so" Ruby shrugged.

"Regardless, I'll keep drawing his attention and you shoot his back. I think there is probably the weakest point of the barrier since he's focusing the flames more at the front to attack".

Ruby nodded and Glaucous went back into to fight. He and his father exchanged a few blows, with Glaucous taking on more damage due to the barrier protecting Oxford.

Team RWBY's leader fired a shot when she had the chance, giving Glaucous the opportunity to do some damage to his father. He slammed into his father, with the side of his weapons which had no blade.

Glaucous tossed his weapons into the air, and took the chance to attack Oxford with his fists. Each strike released a devastating blast of energy, but with each strike the Team GREY leader began to get sluggish. He'd taken a few blows from his father in the progress, and when he felt the barrier of flames restabilize he jumped away.

He didn't make it very far, and collapsed to one knee.

"Glaucous?!" Ruby came to his aid "are you ok?"

"A pathetic person like you could never master a Aura as powerful as your own, my son." Oxford laughed "with each energy burst you strike me with, the more of your aura you use up".

Glaucous groaned. He tried to get up but he was too slow.

Oxford darted forward, his fist slammed into Ruby's stomach and she was launched into one of the shrine's walls.

"Ruby!" Glaucous groaned.

The scythe wielder scrambled for her dropped weapon.

Oxfords boot came down onto it.

"Pathetic weapon" he laughed as he stomped on it, trying to smash Crescent Rose to pieces.

"No, please" Ruby tried to push him away, but just burned her hands on the barrier surrounding him.

He kicked her away then kicked her scythe.

"Stupid little bug" he grabbed her by her dress "you dare try and defy me?"

She coughed as he punched her in the stomach again.

He pulled back his fist, and prepared to hit her again. When he went to swing, he found himself unable to move his arm.

"What the-?" he growled.

"Hitting a lady is quite rude" a soft serene voice spoke.

Oxford was suddenly yanked off the ground and flipped into the ground.

Ruby landed in Echo's arms. She blushed lightly as he lowered her back to the ground and picked up her weapon, before handing it back to her.

Oxford got back up from the ground.

"You!" he growled "how did you do that?!"

"Stay back and look after Glaucous, Miss Rose." Echo stepped forward.

"You dare to interfere again?" Oxford towered above him "I have this powerful crystal now, so I doubt this will end up like our last encounter".

He swung his fist, but Echo simply caught it.

For once, he wasn't wearing his soft smile. He showed no emotion, except for the moment that he caught Oxford's fist. From that moment onwards, Echo showed a single emotion. Rage.

Oxford suddenly found himself pushed back.

"True, that crystal has made you much stronger." Echo cracked his knuckles "strong enough, that I'm going to have to resort to unconditional means".

He held out his hand. Within it, black and red static surged, getting bigger and bigger. Around his hand, the static formed a pistol.

Echo pointed his gun at Oxford.

"You expect to beat me with that puny thing?"

"You don't even know what this is." Echo glared at him "this is something I don't use often. It's my personal weapon; Grimdark Bloom".

He fired a single shot. Within that shot, was obviously more power than Crescent Rose could have used after going through an entire casing of dust bullets. Even more power than Glaucous could use in one of his explosive bursts.

The power coming off it was immense. It tore right through the barrier of flames and shot Oxford back into the shrine where he'd got the gem.

He got back up "What the fuck was that?"

"Grimdark Bloom is a weapon made of pure aura. Every shot fired from any of it's gun forms is focused aura".

The weapon became black and red static again for a moment. It shifted into the form of a scythe. Unlike the Crescent Rose however, it was dual bladed.

Echo darted forward and slashed downwards. Oxford barely avoided the slash, but even then it was no use. A wave of Aura erupted from the blade of the weapon, consuming him for a moment, before he rocketed back into the shrine again.

He grunted "no, nothing should be strong enough to beat me!"

"You, Oxford Marlow, have made me incredibly angry" Echo glared at him. His eyes were no longer grey, like with Jet his pupils had become red but this time his eye colour had darked to pitch black. "And one thing I do know, is that my Aura fluxes when I'm angry which makes it so much more powerful".

The static shifted around his hands, creating gauntlets. He slammed his fist into Oxford, easily tearing through the barrier of flames again.

His black and red Aura began to shroud him as he let his rage consume him.

Oxford gulped and began to tremble.

"What- What is going on?"

Echo pulled back his hand as the flames around Oxford intensified. Grimdark Bloom dissipated as he focused all his aura to his hand.

He slammed his hand into the barrier and gripped onto it. It seemed like he wasn't attacking Oxford any more at this point. Flames flickered and lashed out as he pulled back, it looked as though he was tearing the flames right off the bandit.

The shrine shook. The air was tense. Echo panted, his red and black eyes flickered with the flames.

He inhaled, then exhaled. Something about the way he breathed out was odd. The world seemed to tremble and shake.

In one final yank, Echo pulled the powerful red crystal out of the barrier and the flames around Oxford vanished.

"Echo" Glaucous tried to get up.

"Stay back" Echo held out his arm.

Flames flickered and swirled around his closed fist.

"What are you?" Oxford shook.

"I am Echo" he responded, his expression shifted back to his soft smile. "I hope you've learnt what fear is, Oxford".

"Just finished him off." Glaucous growled "he needs to pay for his crimes!"

"And so he will, Glaucous." Echo glanced at his leader "but he's your father. It's not for me to finish him off".

The Team GREY leader nodded and stumbled over to his father.

"Glaucous, my son" Oxford panicked "you wouldn't hurt your dear father, would you? We can rule the world together!"

He didn't respond. The last thing that Oxford saw, before darkness, was his son's fist.

"I'm glad that's out of the way." Glaucous sighed, then turned just as Echo screamed "are you ok?!"

The flames around his fist had grown more intense.

"Echo?!" Ruby yelped.

"Oxford awoke the crystals chaotic power" Echo panted, trying to keep his fist clenched.

"Is there some way to reseal it?" Ruby asked.

"No"

"What do we do then?" Glaucous bit his lip.

"I can't physically absorb all it's energy at once like this." Echo groaned "I'm gonna do something I don't particularly enjoy doing. But it's the only way".

He brought his hand up to his face. To Glaucous and Ruby's surprise, he opened his mouth and bit into the gem.

"Wait, what?!" the both looked at him confusedly.

With a crunch, the gem shattered between his teeth. After that it only took a few seconds for Echo to hungrily devour the fiery crystal.

He swallowed then coughed for a moment. A burst of flames erupted from his mouth with the final cough, then he cleared his throat.

"I hate doing that" Echo grumbled.

"What the heck was that?!" Ruby yelled at him.

"I suppose you can say I'm not one hundred percent human." Echo sighed "being someone who can manipulate and absorb aura, also has it's negative effects when it comes to absorbing the essence's of creatures of grim".

"I meant eating the dust crystal" Ruby glared at him.

"Oh that? Dust energies and Aura are relatively similar." He responded "I dislike having to consume such energies, but in some cases I have no choice".

"You're a lot more talkative than usual, right now." Glaucous folded his arms "why is that?"

"Simple. There are a lot of people at Beacon." Echo blinked "a down side about an ability like mine, is being able to literally consume aura. Talking is a hindrance as it just means I breath in more Aura energy, which then does result in an energy overload. I don't quite have the capacity to hold as much energy as I can absorb from the entire of Beacon. And I still haven't figured out how to not breath in aura".

"Ever heard him speak this much?" Ruby scratched her head.

"Never" Glaucous responded "it's odd".

"I know right".

"Immensely odd".

"I'm right here!" Echo yelled "you asked and I gave you an explanation! Don't blame me if I suddenly became super talkative due to the length of the explanation!"

Glaucous and Ruby laughed.

"You guys are just messing with me now aren't you?" he grumbled "it's not funny!""

The two team leaders just continued to laugh as Echo continued to yell at them.

* * *

><p>The bandits were cuffed and loaded onto a second aircraft, as the group watched.<p>

"What'll happen to them?" Jaune sighed, watching Olive glare at him as she got aboard.

"They'll probably be put in solitary confinement for a while." Jade answered "Oxford especially".

"Serves him right in my opinion" Glaucous folded his arms.

"He is your father" Silver glanced over at him "you'll have to learn to forgive him eventually".

"Eventually" Team GREY's leader looked away.

"On another note" Yun interrupted "what's wrong with Echo?"

The scarf wearing hunter was tapping his foot. He had his arms folded and he was distancing himself from the others.

"He's just sulking" Jade giggled "Glaucous and Ruby were obviously teasing him about his surprising talkativeness".

Echo groaned.

"Seems like you hit the nail right on the head" Silver laughed.

"Will you two just hurry up and leave already?" Echo grumbled.

"I think we're actually gonna stay for a while." Jade giggled "your big sister is gonna hang around and make sure you're doing ok".

"Oh and if I remember right, I heard that Marine was heading to Vale for the Vytal Festival" Silver smirked.

Echo froze up and twitched slightly.

"Well" he stated, finally snapping out his momentary trance "I'm not going to Beacon till that festival is over. If you need me, I'll be living out here in the woods".

"Come on" Yun grabbed him by his scarf and pulled him toward the aircraft they'd taken here.

"No please, don't make me go back!" Echo flailed.

Jade and Silver laughed.

"Who is Marine?" Pyrrha inquired.

"I told Blake about her earlier." Silver chuckled "she's a Fox Faunus that has a very strong attachment to Echo".

"Lets just say, she can be overly attached" Jade giggled.

"Speaking of which" Silver looked at her "have you heard anything from Nynaza?"

Echo's focus suddenly shifted.

"Not recently" Jade sighed "last I heard from him, he said he hadn't found anything new regarding Mom and Dad".

Echo frowned, and silence lingered around him.

"It's not your fault Echo." Silver glanced over at him "we don't even know for sure if they were involved in any way".

"What's going on?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing" Echo sighed "it's- it's complicated. But for now it's nothing to worry about".

"Let's just get back home" Yun groaned.

"Oh please no" Echo began to struggle again "I already have to deal with one obsessive Faunus, please don't make me have to go back to see another!"

"Who are you calling obsessive?!" Yun pulled him up by his scarf "I preferred it when you didn't talk at all!"

Everyone laughed as the duo began to bicker.

"Even when he didn't speak, you can tell that Yun was and is the best friend he ever had" Ren chuckled.

"They'd make a cute couple" Nora giggled.

Yun froze up and turned bright red.

Nah" Echo shrugged as Yun kept her grip on his scarf. "I wouldn't want to ruin the friendship".

"I- I'd never want to be in a relationship with you anyway!" she pushed Echo to the floor and turned away "dummy!"

"What was that about?" Echo got up and dusted himself off.

"You still don't get girls do you Echo" Jade giggled.

Everyone continued to laugh as they got aboard the aircraft.

Rinnette looked out the window as it took off.

She froze up, eyes widened in panic. It could have just been her imagination, but it seemed like a figure was stood atop a tree. It seemed to be watching her from a distance.

Her breathing became panicked.

"Rin".

She yelped "what?"

"Are you ok?" Echo looked at her. It seemed like he'd been looking out the window too.

"Did you-?"

He held up his hand to stop her.

"I'm not going to ask" he stated as he nodded.

Rinnette whimpered as she turned to look back out the window. The figure was gone.

She tried not to think about it. She didn't think it would be this soon. But there was no escaping from the fact;

Glaucous' trial had ended. But as of that moment, Rinnette's trial had begun.

End of Arc 2

* * *

><p>To Be Continued...<p> 


	9. Foxes and Gold

Arc 3: The Girl in Armour

Chapter 9: Foxes and Gold.

**A Few Weeks After the Marlow Bandit Clan incident:**

"Come on Echo!" Yun groaned, trying to pry him from the lamp post.

Echo shook his head.

"Stop being stubborn!" she yelled.

"What's going on here?" Blake inquired as the members of Team RWBY passed by.

"Echo is refusing to go into Vale." Glaucous sighed "it seems he's too afraid of bumping into his Sister and Silver, in case that 'Marine' person is with them".

"How bad can she be?" Weiss folded her arms.

"Apparently very bad, if Echo is afraid of her" the Team GREY leader responded.

At this point Yun had hold of his feet, trying to pull him off the lamp post.

"Hey Echo" Ruby waved.

Echo lost his grip for a moment, as he removed his hand to wave back. His eyes widened, with realisation at what he'd just done.

"Gottcha!" Yun pulled him away and dragged him on the aircraft.

"Oops" Ruby tilted her head.

"So where are Team JNPR today?" Glaucous asked.

"Pyrrha and Ren are lecturing Jaune and Nora." Yang shrugged "something about rushing to get homework done".

"So they won't be joining us. Shame".

"What's up with Rin?" Ruby looked part Glaucous. The pink and purple haired girl had her hair down, rather than in her signature twin tails.

"She's not been feeling well since that incident with my father's bandits." he answered "she's been studying like usual, but she hasn't been to combat practice for a while".

Rinnette looked like she was staring off into space, while looking down at her feet. She seemed a bit less excitable than usual.

"So you're all heading into Vale?" Weiss changed the subject.

"Correct" Glaucous responded "we planned on doing a little shopping".

"Well I guess we'll tag along" Yang shrugged.

Echo kept up his struggle as Yun tried to drag him on board the aircraft.

* * *

><p><strong>The City of Vale<strong>

Teams RWBY and GREY walked through the streets of Vale.

"It's nice to see Vale back to normal." Yun relaxed "it was only a few months ago that this city was overrun with Grimm".

"Indeed" Glaucous nodded "I believe Team RWBY was in pursuit of Roman Torchwick in that situation?"

Echo nodded.

"Don't remind me" Yang grumbled.

"Bad memories?" Yun inquired.

Echo waved his hand, to stop Yun from inquiring any further.

"Does Echo know something we don't?" Weiss inquired.

Echo shook his head.

"I assume he's just warning Yun against invading someone else's privacy" Glaucous shrugged.

Echo glanced at Yang for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Echo!" a voice came splitting through the air.

One moment the grey eyed teen was there, the next moment he wasn't. He groaned as he looked up from the floor.

He groaned as he recovered from hitting his head on the concrete. Echo bit his lip and twitched. Pinning him to the floor was a girl with deep blue hair, with a pair of Silver fox ears poking out from her hair.

"Heya lil brother" a familiar voice came from down the street.

"Miss Slate" Glaucous looked over at Jade.

"No need for formalities, Glaucous" she giggled "just call me Jade".

"I'm here too" Silver leaned out from behind her "I see you've met Marine".

He could feel Echo's glare fall upon him, but he seemed to just ignore it.

"Well hello Echo Darling, good to see you" Marine giggled.

Echo forced a smile and nodded.

"I don't think he likes being pinned down like that" Ruby commented.

Marine got up, letting Echo free. She folded her arms and glared at Ruby.

"And who is she?" Marine pouted "have you been cheating on me Echo?"

Yun helped Echo up off the floor.

"You didn't have to tackle him like that" Yun looked over at the blue haired fox.

"Two girls?!" Marine looked between Ruby and Yun "have you been creating a Harem without me?!"

Echo placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder, and opened his mouth as if to speak. In a moment, he was replaced with black rose petals and a gust of wind.

"Sly move there little brother." Jade giggled "borrowing your little girlfriends semblance to flee".

"Girlfriend?!" Marine's pink eyes flared with anger "where did he go, Jade?"

"No idea" his sister shrugged "maybe you should ask his second girlfriend, the little kitty cat team member".

You could almost see the aura that Marine's anger was projecting. She rushed off almost as quickly as Echo had rushed off.

"You were just purposely aggravating her!" Yun yelled "why'd you do that?!"

"Because it's hilarious." Silver laughed "When Marine get's like that, she's the second strongest of the five of us. Otherwise she's tied with Jade".

"She could give Echo a big challenge, but eventually he'd be able to beat her" Jade nodded.

"What part of aggravating her is hilarious?" Weiss rolled her eyes.

"The fact that Echo is just to terrified of her".

"Makes sense" Blake gulped "she seems quite obsessive".

"Girlfriend?" Ruby blushed lightly.

"Oh does my little sister have a crush?" Yang smirked as she wrapped her arms around her sister.

"Yaaang!" Ruby groaned "don't say stuff like that".

"Wait?" Yun looked around "where'd Rin go?"

Glaucous glanced around "she was- she was right behind me".

"What's up with her?" Silver tilted his head.

"She didn't tell us" Yun frowned "according to Jaune and Pyrrha one of the bandits poisoned her. She was lucky to be alive".

"Olivia" Glaucous grumbled "her breath itself contained Anti-Aura Particles. When using her own tongue as a funnel, she could compress them into a noxious gas cloud. After inhaling an entire cloud of that stuff, Rin is lucky to still even be conscious".

"Wow" Yang gulped "your team really is something else. It's almost as if none of you are even mortal".

* * *

><p><strong>Still The City of Vale. A Secluded Alley.<strong>

She nervously wandered.

"I- I need to get back to Beacon. Need to get safe" Rinnette panted, her black veins could be seen through her skin.

The pink haired knight collapsed to one knee.

"Finally. I have you alone".

She froze.

"Aureus?!" she bit her lip, but hesitated to look behind her.

"It seems you remember me well." the voice stated softly "look at you, in such a weakened state. This is not befitting of someone of the Cinereous family".

"I don't use that name any more. I refuse to be associated with them".

"You're coming back with me. Whether you like it or not".

Rinnette managed to barely gather enough strength to get up and turn to look at the golden haired man, who had been stood behind her.

"I refuse" she panted, with heavy pained breaths. She struggled, but managed to take Labrys off her back.

"So you wish to fight?" Aureus sighed "be wary that I have set up a golden bubble. No sound can come in and out of it, so you won't be able to get any help from your worthless team mates".

"Say that again" Rinnette panted "they're more useful than you ever could be. They're stronger than you could ever be. They're my friends".

She barely managed to block the golden blade that came down upon her.

"I wish not to fight you Lady Rinnette. But you give me no choice".

It was useless. She didn't have enough strength to fight back. In an instant he axe was knocked out of her grip and into the darkness of the alleyway.

"Someone. Please, help" she panted painfully.

"No one can here you" Aureus let out a sigh "now sleep".

She tightly shut her eyes as she saw the hilt of his blade head towards her.

To her surprise, she didn't lose consciousness. When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was a familiar black scarf, fluttering in the breeze. Her first response was a pained smile.

"Echo" she sighed weakly.

"Try not to talk" he responded, his black and red eyes glaring at Aureus.

"Who are you?!" the golden haired warrior stumbled back, warily.

Echo gave no response. He just glared.

"How did you get here?" Rinnette asked weakly.

"I heard you call for help" Echo answered. "I wouldn't be a good friend if I just left you".

"How the hell did you hear her?" Aureus gritted his teeth "we're inside a-"

"A bubble created using your aura. No sound can come in or out" Echo interrupted. "Amplified by the golden dust crystal that the blade of your sword is made out of to make sure no one can get in or out without your permission".

"Then how did you get in?"

"You gave me permission" Echo Smirked "it's a simple trick for someone like me".

Aureus swung his sword, but Echo simply grabbed it.

"What?" the golden haired knight pushed as hard as he could, but the blade wouldn't budge.

"You want my friend?" Echo growled "you go through me first!"

In a single moment, he bit into the blade. With a crunch the crystal shattered between his teeth and the blade disintegrated.

Aureus trembled "what- what are you?"

"I am Echo" as he exhaled, golden particles flowed out his mouth. "And you were leaving".

"Not without Lady Rinnette I must-"

Aureus' statement was cut short. Echo slammed his foot into his chest, kicking him into a wall.

"You go back. And you tell them that she's coming back." Echo growled "but you tell them, she's bringing Hell with her. Because as of this moment, I'm declaring war on the Cinereous family. And I plan on taking the fight, right to their door".

"You'll regret this" Aureus bit his lip. "the Cinereous family will crush you".

"I'd like to see them try" Echo responded as the golden haired warrior vanished.

"Echo" Rinnette collapsed.

He caught her, smiling "Yes?"

"You're an idiot" she giggled weakly "thank you".

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p> 


	10. Filler: Teams GREY and JSMN Profiles

So the next Chapter is taking a little while to figure out. So I'm gonna just add in a filler in the form of character profiles for you guys to look through.

In regards to the power level section of the profiles. Lets say 1 is pretty powerless. 100 is- Well remember that Grimm invasion from the end of Volume 2? 200 is the Equivalent of every single one of those Grimm, so 100 would be half of all those Grimm (give or take a bit). The Power level thing is the highest current power a character's level would be when fighting at the fullest strength they can.

* * *

><p><em><span><strong>Team Grey:<strong>_

**Name: Glaucous Marlow  
><strong>Gender: Male  
><span>Species<span>: Human  
><span>Age<span>: 18  
><span>Appearance<span>: Has a tall and bulky figure. He has short Blue Hair and Green.  
><span>Clothing<span>: He wears a black long coat, with his own emblem printed on the should.  
><span>Personality<span>: Calm, Cool and Curious. It's very rare that he'll get angry.  
><span>Notes<span>: He is the Leader of Team GREY.  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Glaucous Grey  
><span>Semblance<span>: Disaster Burst – Charges his Aura in a defensive bubble, then unleashes a surrounding burst.  
><span>Emblem<span>: His Emblem is a Shield with a coat of arms on it, of dual pistols.  
><span>Weapon<span>: The Gemini's  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: Dual sub Machine Guns, which double as a Cleavers.  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: 55

**Name: Rinnette Ash  
><strong>Gender: Female  
><span>Species<span>: Human  
><span>Age<span>: 18  
><span>Appearance<span>: She has Pink hair, with purple streaks. She likes to keep her hair up in twin tails all the time she'll only take it down when it's time to sleep. Her eyes are a deep blue.  
><span>Clothing<span>: The bind she uses to tie her hair up has two red spheres on them. Unusually she wears a suit of armour, with her own symbol on it, when in battle.  
><span>Personality<span>: She's perky and not that quick on the uptake. In other words, not all her oars are in the water if you get what I mean.  
><span>Notes<span>: Though she comes from the noteworthy "Cinereous" hunter family, she uses her mother's maiden name.  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Ash Grey  
><span>Semblance<span>: Kinesis – She charges her Aura with Kinetic Energy and unleashes a devastating burst of energy using her weapon  
><span>Emblem<span>: Her Emblem is a rounded hourglass shape, with the coat of arms of a Battle-axe within it.  
><span>Weapon<span>: Labrys  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: A double bladed Battle Axe, that doubles as a Crossbow.  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: 13

**Name: Echo Slate  
><strong>Gender: Male  
><span>Species<span>: Human?  
><span>Age<span>: 18  
><span>Appearance<span>: He has Slate Grey hair and Deep Grey eyes.  
><span>Clothing<span>: He wears all black clothing. His sleeves are designed to be longer than his arms, and he wears a scarf around his lower face. He wears a necklace with a dust crystal fragment on it, beneath his clothes. He also wears a locket on a chain.  
><span>Personality<span>: He's a quiet person, rarely talking unless something interests him. He'll communicate through motions and expressions. He's relatively cocky, but he knows when to surrender in a fight. On the other hand he's an amazing strategist, and knows how to adapt in a fight and how to use anything as a weapon. It is rumoured he has a dangerous Temper.  
><span>Notes<span>: His favourite flowers are Roses. He likes cats.  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Slate Grey  
><span>Semblance<span>: Aura Manipulation:  
>• He can drain the Aura from any living. (Though he rarely uses this ability)<br>• Through manipulating his own Aura he can change its wavelength and mimic the Semblance of anyone he knows the Aura wavelength of.  
><span>Emblem<span>: His Emblem is a Mask, Half Black and Half Red.  
><span>Weapon<span>: Grimdark Bloom.  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: A Weapon made of Pure Aura. It can be whichever weapon that Echo decides upon. However it will always have one connecting detail, Echo's emblem is always somewhere on the weapon.  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: 78

**Name: Yun Isabelline  
><strong>Gender: Female  
><span>Species<span>: Half Cat Faunus/Half Human  
><span>Age<span>: 18  
><span>Appearance<span>: She has short blonde hair, and amber eyes.  
><span>Clothing<span>: A full body suit, missing a sleeve  
><span>Personality<span>: She considers the bonds of friendship to be more important than anything else and will fight to protect those she's bonded with. She can also be a little reckless, as she'll do anything to prove she has the strength to protect those close to her  
><span>Notes<span>: She has a passionate determination to create a peaceful world.  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Isabelline Grey  
><span>Semblance<span>: Crash – Using anything as a Conduit, she can fire off an explosive blast of Aura.  
><span>Emblem<span>: Her Emblem is a set of cat ears  
><span>Weapon<span>: Judgement  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: A Metal Staff that doubles as Dual Shotguns.  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: 54

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Team JSMN:<strong>_

**Name****: Jade Slate (aka The Green Dragon)  
><strong>Gender: Female  
><span>Species<span>: Human  
><span>Age<span>: 24  
><span>Appearance<span>: She has Jade green hair and green eyes.  
><span>Clothing<span>: She wears a grey tank top and very short denim shorts. Her belt holds weapon parts for her Flintlock Pistols.  
><span>Personality<span>: She's quite fun loving and tends to say complete nonsense from time to time. She can also get quite angry when aggravated.  
><span>Notes<span>: She is Echo's Older Sister.  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Jade Green  
><span>Semblance<span>: Draconic Aura:  
>• Takes on the essence of a Dragon.<br>• Control over Fire  
>• Flame Breath<br>Emblem: A flame with a Dragon head in the centre.  
><span>Weapon<span>: Draco Midori.  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: A single Flintlock Pistol, which also doubles as a flamethrower. When she charges her Draconic Essence through it, it can become the hilt of a flaming sword.  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: 71

**Name: Silver Argent (aka The Static Scientist)  
><strong>Gender: Male  
><span>Species<span>: Human  
><span>Age<span>: 18  
><span>Appearance<span>: He has silver hair and orange eyes. His physique is similar to Echo's.  
><span>Clothing<span>: He wears a pair of goggles on his head and armoured overalls.  
><span>Personality<span>: He is quite tricky and smart, but also very Serene. He's quite open mind and won't hesitate to say what he thinks.  
><span>Notes<span>: He, Echo, and Jade all had the same Combat Teacher.  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Silver.  
><span>Semblance<span>: Static:  
>• Electrical Pulse – Allows Silver to merge himself with physical weapons and act like a dust charge.<br>• Counteracts Polarity.  
>• Overcharge – By surging static through his entire nervous system, he gets a temporary boost of energy and can even result in a powerful burst of electricity; strong enough power an entire city.<br>Emblem: A Lightning Bolt shape with gears within it.  
><span>Weapon<span>: Buster Bolt  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: Dual Gauntlets that act as Conduits for Silver's Aura. He can use them to throw electricity.  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: 67

**Name: Marine Verity (aka The Fox Samurai)  
><strong>Gender: Female  
><span>Species<span>: Fox Faunus  
><span>Age<span>: 18  
><span>Appearance<span>: She has Marine blue hair and pink eyes.  
><span>Clothing<span>: She tends to commonly dress up in a kimono. Beneath that however, is combat suit with dual katana's in holsters on her back.  
><span>Personality<span>: Calm and Kind. She used to hate humans when she was a young girl, until Laurel and his wife took her in.  
><span>Notes<span>: She's quite attached to Echo.  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Marine Blue  
><span>Semblance<span>: (Classified)  
><span>Emblem<span>: Fox Ears with Twin fox-tails either side.  
><span>Weapon<span>: Fox Claws.  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: Dual Katanas. The metal is made from the same material as Jade and Silver's weapons; allowing her to charge her Aura into it.  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: 75

**Name: Nyanza  
><strong>Gender: Male  
><span>Species<span>: Human  
><span>Age<span>: 22  
><span>Appearance<span>: N/A  
><span>Clothing<span>: N/A  
><span>Personality<span>: N/A  
><span>Notes<span>: N/A  
><span>Colour Designation<span>: Chartreuse  
><span>Semblance<span>: (Classified)  
><span>Weapon<span>: (Classified)  
><span>Weapon Description<span>: (Classified)  
><span>Approximate Current Power Level (1-100)<span>: (Classified)

* * *

><p>And there you go. The Profiles for Teams GREY and JSMN. As you can see there are some odd things that I will point out before they get questioned.<p>

First being Rinnette's low power level. The power levels are set as they are currently in the plot. Rinnette is in a bad condition due to the events of the last Arc and because of this her power level has been decreased somewhat. For those wondering what her natural power level is, it's the same as Yun's: 54. Of course this is just raw power, the reason Rin was beaten by Yun in a previous chapter was because of better strategic advantage that happened in the unseen fight.

Second, as you can see some things in the bottom two profiles are either N/A or Classified. Marine's classifications are because her primary abilities haven't been shown yet. Though, as you can see, she it one power level above Jade. Nyanza on the other hand, hasn't been completely shown yet. So his profile is almost completely blocked out to avoid spoilers.

Well that was a filler. The next chapter should be coming in a few days. Possibly. Hopefully. I'll get around to it. It's like nearly half done. Maybe. I don't even know. I just make it up as I go along.


	11. The Game Begins

Chapter 10: The Game Begins.

"Are we there yet?" Yun groaned.

"Stop complaining" Glaucous rolled his eyes "Rin is directing us as best she can in her condition".

"It's nice to see she's got some of her pep back" Yang grinned.

"She is in a much better condition than when we left Beacon." Pyrrha smiled "though I still worry for her".

"I'll be fine guys" Rinnette giggled "I just need to recover my strength a bit more then I'll be all back to normal".

Echo remained quiet as the blue haired fox girl continued to pester him.

"Was it really a good idea to bring her along?" Silver sighed.

"She's as good a fighter as anyone else." Jade shrugged "so I don't see why not. Besides it serves Echo right for starting this".

* * *

><p><strong>A few weeks earlier.<strong>

"So let me get this straight. You mimicked the Aura of a High Profile Knight and gave yourself access to his Aura bubble, so that you could save Rinnette. Then you proceeded to beat him up, bite through his sword, then declare war on one of the most respected and rich families in Vale, maybe even all of Remnant?"

Echo nodded.

"You fucking idiot!" Jade whacked him around the head "what were you thinking?! What would Mom and Dad think if they were around to know about this".

"Actually I'm sure that both your mother and father would have not hesitated to get involved" Silver intervened.

"Shut it Goggle head!" Jade glared at him.

"I agree with Miss Slate." Glaucous folded his arms "declaring war was a reckless move".

"Thank you!"

"But as reckless as the decision was, it was the right decision".

"Wait what?" Jade turned to look at Glaucous.

"We have a few rules that we all agreed on when we were put into this team." Yun grinned "one of the most important ones, is exactly why Echo did what he did".

"It doesn't matter what the circumstances are." Glaucous smiled softly "we protect each other. Even if that means declaring war on the rest of the world, Team GREY protects it's members. And as the leader, I approve of Echo's decision".

Jade face-palmed.

"You're all as bad as each other." she scratched her head "a group of bandits was fine. But now you're planning on fighting a war you have no chance of winning".

"There hasn't been a mission yet that Team GREY couldn't handle" Yun smirked, wiggling her ears.

"Guys" Rinnette sat up.

"Rin?" Glaucous looked over at her.

"If you really plan on fighting that family, I want to come with you" she winced.

"You need your rest".

"I don't care, Yun!" the pink haired girl gritted her teeth "I'm the most strategic advantage you can get. I know the in's and out's of the castle. I know each and every one of their abilities and fighting styles. I am the best chance this team has at winning".

Echo came over to her.

"I don't care what you say or thing, Echo!" Rinnette yelled "I'm go-"

She was interrupted by Echo placing his hand on the top of her head. He placed his head against hers and smiled softly, rubbing her head lightly.

The pink haired knight became calm.

"Yes" he smiled.

"You're not seriously letting her come" Yun clenched her fist.

"I agree with Echo." Glaucous sighed "Rinnette is correct in stating she gives us a strategic advantage".

"You're all insane." Jade ran her fingers through her hair "the four of you are all insane".

"We go together very well" Glaucous smiled "And as of this moment, Team GREY goes to war".

* * *

><p><strong>Back in the Present, Far South West of Vale<strong>

"So why are you guys even coming with us?" Yun looked over her shoulder, glancing back at Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"I don't even know" Jaune groaned.

"We came to help of course" Pyrrha nodded.

"What she said" Yang grinned.

"Don't be quick to be so excited." Rinnette glared at them "the Cinereous Family aren't to be taken lightly. If they wanted to, they could have wiped out the White Fang when it accelerated into it's current extremist state. But they have no interest in any of that, so they didn't".

Echo's face remained buried in his scarf. His grey eyes glimmered.

"Come on, You're over exaggerating" Marine giggled "I mean, I know the Family is strong an' all but I doubt they're as strong as you're making them out to be."

In the distance it came into view. A castle even bigger than the Beacon Academy.

"Oh my" Weiss gasped.

"That's the Cinereous family home?" Blake tilted her head.

Rinnette nodded.

"Halt!" a voice echoed.

"That voice" Rinnette stepped back and bit her lip "Azure".

He seemed to fade in from nowhere, right in front of them.

"Lady Rinnette" he tilted his head, letting his long blue hair dangle. "Did you finally give in and decide to come home? Or is what Aureus said true? Have you brought a war upon your own family?"

"Azure Iris" Rinnette glared back at him "the Cinereous Family have no right claiming any relation to me. I hate all of them!"

"I have no responsibility to return you home. But if these people desire a war, then I must protect the family".

"One Day" Echo stood forward.

"What?" Azure glanced at him.

"One Day will be all it takes for us to crush the Cinereous Family" he responded "No even less.

"You will have to get past me first" Azure dug his boots into the dirt.

Echo shook his head "As the one who declaring 'war', I want to make a proposal to make things much easier".

"And that would be?"

"We're going to enter the Castle approximately 3 hours before Sunset. And the moment we do, we have until Sunset to defeat the head of the Family".

"You make it sound like a game! This is war you're proposing!".

"If the head of the Family hasn't fallen by Sunset tomorrow, We will surrender and leave peacefully to avoid any further conflict".

Azure hesitated. "Fine. I will report to the family of your proposal, and I will find you again to state whether they agree or not".

"And even as we move closer too the castle, we will not attack unless attacked" Echo held out his hand.

Azure bowed his head and shook the grey haired teen's hand.

In a split second, the blue haired guardian was gone.

"Azure Iris" Rinnette gulped "the strongest warrior that Family has under it's control. I've never seen it before, but it's rumoured he has the power to take down thousands of Grimm at once".

"Well then, I suppose he's going to be my primary rival then." Echo smiled softly "Rin, you're going to take down the head of your family on your own. You can give me an insight on who they have and what abilities you know of I will then plan accordingly".

She gulped and nodded

* * *

><p><strong>Hours later. The Outskirts of the Cinereous Castle.<strong>

"And so the family have decided to agree to your challenge" Azure bowed his head.

"Though this may be war, it's nothing personal." Echo sighed "it's a promise I have to keep. So I hope we can have a honourable fight when we meet upon the battlefield, Azure".

"As do I" the blue haired warrior gave a slight smile, before disappearing.

"So we're all ready?" Ruby started to fidget slightly.

"I would assume so" Ren nodded "it seems like Echo has planned out our strategy accordingly. It almost looks like he's finding this fun".

"Trust me, he is" Jade rolled her eyes "he never changes. Our dad may have been the cocky one, but he knew when to back down. Our mom on the other hand loved the thrill of the fight. And it looks to me like Echo inherited that".

"Echo knows when not to fight though." Silver pointed out "and you're the cocky reckless one. It seems to me like you inherited your father's cockiness and your mothers recklessness, where Echo inherited your fathers acknowledgement and your mother's thrill seeking. You're both as bad as each other in that regard".

"Shut it Goggle head!"

Marine giggled "I'm happy to go where ever Echoey want's me to go".

You could almost see the hearts in her eyes every time she looked at Echo.

"Keep away from my Partner!" Yun growled.

"Are you his Girlfriend or something then?!" Marine snapped back.

"No!" Yun blushed brightly as she yelled "we were partnered up during our Initiation at Beacon!"

"It's quite true" Glaucous nodded "as were Rin and I"

"Speaking of, I heard that your teams performed quite spectacularly in your Initiation." Rinnette looked over at RWBY and JNPR "Beheading a Nevermore and killing a Death Stalker".

"Indeed, quite impressive".

"It was super difficult" Jaune groaned.

"You think a Nevermore and a Death Stalker were super difficult?!" Yun sighed "during our initiation the four of us had the misfortune of running into a Stray Goliath".

"Oh yes. I do recall that poor thing." Glaucous glanced up, in reminiscence.

"A Goliath?" Ruby gulped "the big Grimm that don't usually get into fights? Professor- I mean Doctor Oobleck and I saw a Herd of them outside Mountain Glenn".

"Yeah that species of Grimm don't usually travel on their own." Rinnette nodded "we had the honour of finding a rare one that did. It wasn't anyone's fault or anything, but I think the thing got spooked or something. If Grimm can even get spooked?"

"The instructors almost had to get involved." Yun laughed "and we almost got kicked out for going ahead and trying to fight it anyway, isn't that right Echo?"

The teen didn't answer. He simply looked up at the silhouetted castle against the shining moon.

"Echo?" Yun repeated.

"Tomorrow" he laughed softly "the game begins".

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>


	12. Making an Entrance

Sorry for taking over a month on this. Around this point was where I'd gotten up to with the original so I needed to take a break to actually plan out what's going to happen in this Arc of the story. Now I'm satisfied with the new character's, their abilities and their weapons, I can finally continue of with this. Though as soon as this Arc is done I might need to take another break to do more planning for the next Arc.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 11: Making an Entrance.<span>

The castle doors swung open.

Dust floated through the empty hall.

"So we're all good and ready?" Yun looked around.

"Yes. I have everything planned out." Echo nodded "if what Rin has told me, I can assume that her Father is in his personal chapel at the back of the castle."

"The front of the Cinereous Castle is for formal events." Rinnette sighed "the only way through to the back part of the castle, where my family reside, is through the courtyard."

"And how do we get there?" Weiss rolled her eyes, impatiently.

"The door right in front of us. Between the two stairways that lead up to the second floor."

"Well then, lets go through it then." Marine skipped forward and tugged on the door handle. The door didn't budge. "It's locked."

"Silver" Jade gestured her hand.

The goggle headed teen walked forward and Marine stood aside. He tapped the door.

"Well?" Marine looked at him.

"Silver can open almost any lock known to man" Jade smiled proudly. "What's the result, goggle head?"

"It's wood" he responded.

"Yeah we kinda figured that. Can you get it open?"

"No. It's wood".

"What do you mean?!"

"I mean! It doesn't have a lock and I can't see what's holding it closed because it's wood!"

"I think I get what he means." Glaucous approached the door "Mr Argent, if you be so kind as to let me have a go?"

"Be my guest" Silver backed away.

The leader of Team GREY pulled back his fist. Looking at the way he drew back his arm, was similar to when they all first encountered Oxford.

A bright glow emanated from his fist, right before he slammed it into the door.

The aftermath of this was a cloud of black smoke, similar to the smoke you usually see after an explosion. Smoke flooded out of the barren doorway. Where there had once been a wooden door, there was now just ash.

"Disaster Burst" Jade tilted her head curiously "just like Oxford".

"The one thing that I don't regret inheriting from him." Glaucous sighed "shall we continue forward?"

He allowed Rinnette to enter, before following in. Everyone else followed the two of them into the courtyard.

"So where too now?" Nora looked around the large garden "nice place you have. The fountain looks super smashable".

"Don't touch the fountain Nora" Ren rolled his eyes.

The courtyard garden was quiet. A light breeze blew through, as the light of the sun peered over the the roof of the castle and glistened against the fountain water.

"We need to hurry" Jade sighed "we only have a few hours until sunset."

Echo walked ahead to the exit of the courtyard.

"Yun" he glanced back.

She nodded and looked at Blake.

The golden haired faunus took her staff from her back and separated it into her dual shotguns.

"First rule of stealth." Blake rolled her eyes, withdrawing her weapons from it's sheath "don't try and stealth when you're up against a faunus".

Yun fired both her guns. Blake fired her gun.

The blast from both guns tore through part of the rooftop. A shadow passed over the courtyard as a figure jumped off the roof to avoid the blast.

He landed on the ground, striking it with his fist. The force of his impact shattered the ground and tore the fountain to pieces. Wind blew through his tattered coat and ruffled his rust coloured hair.

"Cocky little faunus. You thunk just cause you have superior hearing means you're better than us? Well you're wrong, you filthy flea ridden creatures".

"Carnelian Bloodstone." Rinnette gulped "I figured they'd use him as their first line of defence."

"Me and Blake will take care of this guy." Yun snapped her shotguns back into a staff "you guys go on ahead."

Echo held the door open as everyone hurried through it.

"Hold on there a moment where do you think you're all going!" Carnelian stomped forward.

He charged past Blake, ignoring her completely. He was suddenly stopped when the ribbon on her weapon wrapped around him.

"You're fight is with us." Yun grinned, slamming her staff into his gut.

In a single blow, he was catapulted backwards.

"Yun" Echo was still stood next to the door "don't die. Ok?"

"Sure thing" she smiled, just before he left through the door.

"Stupid Children!" Carnelian roared as he got up "you have no chance of defeating the Cinereous Family!"

"Well we can try" Yun shrugged.

"Indeed" Blake nodded.

"I bet you two are part of that Faunus supremacist group that's been going around." Carnelian spat "the White Claw or something?"

Yun darted forward and slammed her staff down into him.

"People like you, who think all Faunus are bad, make me sick!" she gritted her teeth.

A large fist, with knuckle dusters on them, slammed into her gut.

She choked and blood dripped down from her mouth, down her chin.

Carnelian grabbed her by her head and tossed her across the courtyard.

"Yun!" Blake yelled, in concern.

She was just quick enough, to put the sheath back on her Gambol Shroud and use it to block the strike that came from the large opponent. Blake struggled to hold her ground as he overwhelmed her with raw strength.

Carnelian was suddenly blasted backwards. Yun panted heavily, holding her shotguns steady as blood dripped down her head.

"You just don't know when to stay down, do you?" Carnelian growled.

Blake charged forward, but the rusty haired giant knocked her back with his fist.

In an instant, Yun was there striking him with her staff. The impact was powerful, and the resulting burst of energy was even more so.

"I should be the one telling you to stay down" she glared at him as he got back to his feet.

"I understand now" he glared back "Crash. You fire off an explosive blast of Aura, which gets stronger and stronger with the more damage you take".

"Of course" Yun's glare, became a confident smile. "I could tell you were much stronger than me, otherwise I'd never leave myself so open to attack".

"Well now I know that I need to kill you quickly, or you'll be more troubling than I thought".

"Bring it!"

Carnelian cracked his knuckles.

"Blake?" Yun glanced at her current fighting partner.

"Yes?"

"How strong is that ribbon attached to your weapon?"

"Strong enough."

"Would it be durable enough to hold him for at least a minute?"

"It might, but I've never had to do anything like that with an opponent this strong."

"Well it's worth a shot. I'll distract him to give you a chance to bind him. From there I'll do all the work."

"Got it."

The ground crumbled as Carnelian charged forward. Yun countered by jabbing her staff forward. He was blasted back and Yun darted after him. She jumped and swung her weapon down.

The massive man brought his fists above his head, and the staff clinked against the metal. Before she had a chance to initiate Crash, he pulled his fists apart then swung up to knock the weapon aside.

Yun countered again, bringing her foot down into his face and using him to jump back into the air.

"Blake now!"

The dark haired huntress darted around Carnelian, binding up with the ribbon attached to her weapon.

"Got him!" Blake yelled back.

Yun flipped and the air and landed behind her opponent. He struggled to get out of his bindings, until Yun's staff slammed into his back.

"Hold on" Yun looked over at Blake "things may get a bit rough."

She slammed her staff into the ground and used the explosion from her semblance to propel herself towards her opponent.

Blake tugged on her ribbon, and fired her gun, as best she could as Carnelian and Yun bounced around the courtyard. It was hard for her to keep aim, not wanting to hit Yun and with them springing around like a pinball.

Carnelian growled and struggled. He was taking more damage than he'd have like to take.

With one mighty roar, he pulled free of the binding and took hold of it. He pulled Blake off the ground and towards him, slamming his knuckle dusters into her chest and blasting her back to the ground.

"Now it's your turn!" he looked up toward Yun as they both fell back towards the earth.

"Earth Break" Yun answered "a Semblance that has no effect if you have no large mass to break. Why'd you think I kept you in the air?"

"Clever. But now the advantage is gonna be mine again!" Carnelian laughed.

"You've already lost" she gave another confident smile and swung down her staff.

"What?" he prepared to block the strike, but instead Yun had separated her staff and let one of the guns fall to the ground. His focus drifted to the dropped gun as it fell past him

She fired a single shot while he was momentarily distracted and Carnelian was blasted into the ground. He formed a crater when he landed.

As he tried to get up Yun landed, slamming her knee down into his chest and grabbing her second gun.

Both weapons we aimed at his head.

"You were so focused on blocking my Semblance you didn't anticipate a ranged attack. And in the air, you wouldn't have been able block it anyway" Yun smiled, determination glimmered in her eyes.

"Why you-!" Carnelian went to raise his fist. He was too focused on striking down his opponent to finish his sentence.

"Don't even think about it." She lightly tightened her forefinger "I'll be able to pull both trigger's before you can hit me. What you didn't realise is that I can push my Semblance into my Dust Ammunition. And at this range the power of the shot, mixed with my Semblance will probably knock you out cold".

"Don't forget about me" Blake's weapon slammed into the ground beside him. She had a few cuts and bruises but she was in a better shape than Yun and even Carnelian.

"Just surrender" Yun groaned.

"Just accept that you've been beaten" Blake nodded lightly, agreeing with Yun.

Carnelian turned his head, and spat onto the ground. The moment he thought they we distracted, he began to raise his fists as fast as he could.

The sound of the blast tore through the air.

"I told you" Yun let out a sigh as she looked down on her unconscious opponent.

She clicked her guns back together to reform her staff, then she fell back.

"Yun!" Blake put her weapon away and hurried over to check her friend.

"I'm all good" the blonde panted heavily "just exhausted."

Blake fell to her knees, then onto the ground as well.

"Me too" she responded with a sigh "that was difficult".

"As difficult as it was, I made a promise and I wasn't about to break it."

"Do you mean your TEAM's code?"

"No? I promised Echo that I'd stay alive."

"You do really like him don't you?" Blake lightly laughed

"What? No?!" Yun's face turned bright red and Blake continued to laugh.

* * *

><p>"How long is this corridor?!" Yang complained.<p>

"Not really that long" Rinnette rolled her eyes "we started hurrying down it a moment ago. You're just being lazy."

"So the layout of the castle is primarily Servant Quarters, the Kitchen, and the Ballroom at the entrance?" Echo inquired "that right Rin?"

Yes that's right."

"Then where does that door just ahead of us lead?"

"That's the Dining Hall. I did always find it odd that we had to go through the dining hall in order to get to the back area of the castle."

"Doesn't the kitchen connect to the Dining Hall?" Jaune scratched his head.

"Well yes, but I didn't want to disturb or scare any of the servants." Rinnette nodded " I doubt they evacuated them, knowing I'd probably steer you away from those kinda areas. That's most likely why Carnelian was stationed in the courtyard, they figured I'd take you through there."

"I expected them to do that." Echo nodded "everyone has a good idea of who is fighting against who, should we run into them. I just hope your family did something smarter than the 'put people in their way one at a time'. Like in video games where you have to fight one boss to get to the next".

"You get more and more talkative when we're away from Beacon" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"Honest Truth. No matter what excuse I actually make up, I'm mainly just quiet to be mysterious." he responded "besides, nothing more infuriating like getting your butt kicked by someone who doesn't talk. Well all of that and the fact that my Aura is always in an odd state of Flux when I'm back in Vale. No idea why."

"That does sound odd" Marine tilted her head "if I remember right, didn't your Aura only go into an odd flux when Shiro was around?"

"Shiro?" Pyrrha tilted her head.

"Family Friend" Jade answered "Shiro Onyx. An old team mate of mine and Echo's parents."

"Now isn't time to bring that up." Echo groaned, kicking open the dining hall door.

"Greetings" Aureus stood there "I've been waiting."

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p> 


	13. All That Shimmers is Not Gold

Chapter 12: All that Shimmers is Gold 

They stood quietly

"I was surprised that the Cinereous Family agreed to play your little game." Aureus sighed "I personally thought they should just eradicate you on the spot".

"Are you still upset that I ate your sword?" Echo rolled his eyes "get over it dude. Who makes a sword out of solid Dust Crystal anyway? You were just asking for it to smash at some point."

Aureus drew his new sword. The edges were more jagged this time.

"I challenge you to a rematch!" he glared at Echo.

"I refuse."

"Then let us commence our- Wait what?!"

"I said I refuse."

"You can't refuse!"

"I just did."

"I demand a rematch!"

"No." Echo tilted his head slightly "I don't want to waste my energy."

Aureus charged forward, with his blade stretch out.

A sonic boom tore through the dining hall and Echo stopped the blade, with just his finger. The warrior looked up at his opponent and looked into his grey eyes, just as they changed colour to a bloody red.

His blade began to shake as he trembled. The air around Echo was tense as his pitch black aura began to shroud him.

"What- What are you?" Aureus gulped.

"I told you" Echo responded with a light pause "I don't want to waste my energy!"

Aureus was suddenly blasted backwards, into the dining table.

"You guys know what to do" Echo walked around to the door "We'll go on ahead."

"I suppose you can count on us" Weiss sighed.

"I've been waiting for my turn" Yang grinned.

"Me and Ren will help out too" Nora stuck out her tongue, happily.

"Just try not to go overboard Nora" Ren rolled his eyes.

The four of them stayed where they were as the others followed after Echo and exited the dining hall.

"You saw that didn't you?" Silver looked at Jade.

"The Black Rabbit" Jade sighed.

"The Black Rabbit?" Glaucous inquired "are you referring to the shape Echo's aura took momentarily?"

"It was like him, but with Rabbit Ears" Rinnette gave a confused look.

"Best not to talk about it" Marine looked back at them all, with a serious expression.

"She's right" Jade bit her lip.

"Hurry up guys!" Echo yelled "you're walking so slowly!"

They started to hurry after Echo and Ruby, the only one who'd kept up with him.

* * *

><p>Aureus got up, and groaned.<p>

"I hope you're not too beat up already" Yang smirked.

"Why do we even need to fight him four on one?" Nora asked "he doesn't seem that powerful?"

Before they could react, Aureus grabbed his sword and unleashed a golden slash of energy.

Everyone but Yang dodged out the way. The blonde huntress slammed her fist into the energy burst.

The strike tore right through the crescent of golden energy. Though before she could do anything else, Aureus pointed his sword at her, and a golden energy bubble surrounded her.

Yang slammed her fist against it, but it did nothing.

"No use trying" Aureus rolled his eyes "nothing can get in or out of that bubble without my permission."

"Nora!" Ren looked over at his team mate.

Almost instantly the orange haired girl was behind Aureus, smashing him with her hammer.

He tore through the air and crashed into the wall, then fell. As he got up from the floor, he groaned and grabbed onto his sword.

"Didn't expect that." he pointed his sword at her as she charged forward with her hammer.

Nora hit a golden wall. It curled around her into a dome, entrapping her inside.

"Shimmer" Weiss' rapier clanged against Aureus' sword just as he managed to block. "That's you're Semblance. Shimmer, the ability to project your Aura into an impassable barrier among other things. Now I understand why Echo planned for us to take you on Four against One."

She was suddenly blasted back by an energy burst. Weiss managed to keep herself on the ground, by jabbing her sword into the ground.

Aureus swung his sword and pointed it at her. The moment a golden barrier appeared, the snow haired huntress pointed her sword at it in retaliation. A glyph appeared on the barrier, then it shattered.

"Glyphs" Aureus gulped "you're a Schnee?!"

His reaction was cut short, by Ren shooting him in the back.

Weiss signalled to Yang and Nora, while Aureus was distracted. In a single moment both of them hit the barriers that held them, and they shattered.

"You really need to pay more attention to things" Yang smirked.

He growled, before being pelted with shots from Ren's gun, and ice shards from Weiss' Glyphs. Aureus' focus moved towards the long distance fighters for a moment, letting Yang take advantage and charge forward. She slammer her fist into his chest.

Aureus was flung backwards, right into Nora's hammer. She swung and struck him, sending him back the other way. He managed to force himself down to the floor, before hitting anything.

A golden bubble expanded out from him and filled the room. It crushed his opponents against the walls of the dining hall. Light vibrations ran across the surface of the bubble, and when they reached one of the four it resulted in an explosion of energies.

"I've had enough of you Kids!" Aureus gritted his teeth. "If I get rid of you, that kid will have no choice but to give me a rematch!"

The bubble shrank for a moment then expanded, bashing them up against the walls. It did this repeatedly as the vibrations, and energy explosions, continued.

It only took one more burst of energy. When the bubble shrank one more time, it cracked.

Yang's aura shrouded her. Her eyes turned red. In one punch, she shattered the bubble.

Nora fell first, and she took the opportunity to smash Aureus with her hammer.

The moment she was out the way, Ren went in. He struck his opponent with his guns.

A storm of ice shard pelted Aureus, he managed to block most of them with his sword but he'd was sustained too much damage.

He turned just in time to see Yang charging at him. A golden crystal blade blocked her from attacking, at least that's what he thought.

In one blow, Yang slammed her fist right through the blade and shattered it into pieces. Her fist didn't stop, it continued to his face and he was launched across the room.

He'd completely and utterly been beaten. Aureus lay there, unconscious.

"What now?" Ren sat down and sighed.

"We should probably rest" Weiss fell to her knee's.

"Probably best for us to stay here anyway." Yang panted in exhaustion "gotta make sure he doesn't try and go after the others if he wakes up".

"More fighting?!" Nora grinned.

"No!" the other three yelled.

* * *

><p>They walked through the halls.<p>

"The Chapel should be just up ahead. Up these stairs." Rinnette pointed.

"How long do we have left?" Jade looked at Silver.

"Approximately Just over Two Hours" he responded.

"So we're near the end already?" Marine shrugged "well it was fun while it lasted."

The group began to climb the stairs. When they reached the top, they found a shut door.

"You better be able to get this one open Silver" Jade glared at him.

"Impossible" Echo responded "he wouldn't be able to open this if he tried. It's Aura locked."

"Aura Locked?" Jaune scratched his head in confusion.

"I don't see how the Cinereous Family could have gotten their hands on something like this?!" Echo examined the large doors. There were a few wires attached to large coloured lights.

"What's so confusing?" Glaucous shrugged "they're a family of some of the best Hunters and Huntresses and they're filthy rich. Why wouldn't they be able to purchase this kind of stuff".

"They must have installed this while I was away." Rinnette bit her lip "I don't remember this being here when I was here."

"This isn't something that money can get you" Echo tapped the door lightly.

"What's going on?" Ruby looked at everyone.

"We're familiar with this technology" Marine answered "It was actually designed specifically to keep people like Silver from unlocking doors. As well as reinforcing the door to protect from brute force."

"Those four lights. Green, Red, Yellow and Pink. They represent the locks." Echo explained "the only way to unlock this door, is to defeat the people who've linked their Aura to the door. Well at least I got my wish of them doing something imaginative."

"Well who is who?" Jade grumbled.

"We're at a centre point. From here you can get to the Chapel, if it were open, as well as four towers" Rinnette looked around.

"She's right." Echo nodded, clutching a loose wire "by the looks of it the colours represent where they are. Pink is Top Right, so it's also in the Top Right tower."

"I get it" Marine nodded "but that still doesn't tell us who is who."

"I'm gonna take an educated guess." Echo sighed "Marine, Top Right. Jade, Bottom Right. Silver and Pyrrha, Top Left. Finally; Ruby, Jaune and Glaucous Bottom Left".

"What about us?" Rinnette looked at him.

"We stay here. I want to be able to go in the moment these door open."

"Well I guess we have our assigned points." Silver shrugged "let us depart."

"See you soon Echo" Marine giggled, before running off.

"Excitable as always" Jade sighed, following after her down the right hallway.

The group split up and went towards their destinations.

"Why?" Rinnette asked.

"Why what?" Echo answered.

"I know my family, so I know who is going to fight who." She looked at him "Why send Marine against my Oldest Sister, alone?"

"She can handle herself" he smiled "that's why. You haven't even seen her fight yet, let alone her Semblance."

"Well I hope they'll all be ok."

"Me Too."

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p> 


	14. Against the Wind

Chapter 13: Against the Wind.

"How big is this tower?" Jaune groaned.

"Not that big" Glaucous sighed "from what I could tell from outside, Miss Verity got the tallest of the towers."

"Hurry up guys!" Ruby jumped up and down, at the top of the stairs.

"How can she have so much energy after climbing all these stairs?!" Jaune panted.

"She's a very energetic girl. I can see why Echo took an interest in her" Glaucous nodded.

The two guys got caught up to the red cloaked girl. Ruby opened the doors, revealing a long corridor with doors to various rooms. At the end of the corridor was another set of stairs.

"Please tell me we don't have to go up those stairs?"

"Of course we do Jaune!" Ruby jumped excitedly "the bad guy is always at the very top of the tower!"

"Isn't that usually the princess?" Glaucous inquired.

"Princesses are usually in sealed off towers. This tower isn't sealed at all."

"Nice Logic" Jaune sighed, rolling his eyes.

The trio of team leaders walked down the corridor.

"Can you two feel that?" Glaucous glanced at them.

"It's like nothing I've ever felt before" Ruby shivered.

"I can't feel anything" Jaune scratched his head.

"It would seem your Aura isn't fully developed yet. That's why." Glaucous sighed "this sensation is relatively familiar. It's vaguely like when I first met Rin, but much more sinister."

Ruby gulped and started going up the stairs. Glaucous followed.

"Hey wait!" Jaune yelped, going after them.

The leaders of RWBY and GREY stood motionless as Jaune joined them. Looking out the large window was a green haired girl in green clothing. Part of the outfit resembled slightly transparent green wings.

"I thought I'd be waiting here forever" she let out a calm sigh. "You only have just under an hour and a half till sunset."

"And you are?" Glaucous tilted his foot slightly, obviously preparing for the worst.

She turned around. Her blue eyes were very familiar.

"You may call me Sylphie" she answered "Sylphie Cinereous. Your turn."

"Glaucous Marlow."

"Ruby Rose."

"Um- Jaune Arc?"

"You hesitated" Sylphie tilted her head "is that your name or isn't it?"

"Y-Yes" Jaune gulped "sorry."

"For reckless invaders, you are very polite" she blinked.

"All we want is for the pursuit of my teammate to cease" Glaucous sighed.

"Teammate?" Sylphie tilted her head to the opposite side "are you referring to my little sister? I'm afraid that's impossible. Father plans on marrying her off to join another family into ours."

"And what about Rinnette's feelings about it?" Ruby asked.

"She has no say" the girl answered.

"It almost sounds like you don't care about what your own sister wants." Jaune yelled "she's a person, not just someone for her family to use and throw away as they see fit!"

"That's exactly what she is!" Sylphie growled. She swung her arm out to the side, revealing a green blade on a black hilt.

"It seems like talking won't fix this" Glaucous withdrew his guns.

Ruby took out her Crescent Rose, in its gun form.

Jaune drew his sword and shield.

* * *

><p>"Interesting" Silver looked around.<p>

"I agree" Pyrrha nodded "it would seem like this tower is very maze like."

"I wonder how the others are doing?"

"I guess most of them will be ok. I assume Jade and Marine can take care of themselves alone, I'm personally worried about Jau- Um Ruby's party."

"You mean you're worried about Mr Arc, correct?"

Pyrrha blushed slightly.

"Well I-"

"Hold on a moment" Silver interrupted her "can you feel that?"

He looked around.

"Feel what? I can't-" Pyrrha paused and began to look around cautiously "Someone else is here?"

"Clever" a voice chuckled "you two are far more capable than I thought."

From the shadows, a figure approached. His hair was black as night, but he had purple lightning bolts patterned in the black. His eyes were a deep blue, and his robes were black and white.

"Another Mercenary?" Silver asked "or a Cinereous Family Member?"

"The latter naturally" he answered "I am Raiden Cinereous."

"Raiden" Silver scratched his head "interesting."

"How is that interesting?" Pyrrha looked at him.

"Raiden means Thunder and Lightning."

Static seemed to fizzle around the Cinereous Family member.

"You're quite a clever one" Raiden smiled "may I ask your names?"

"Silver Argent."

"Pyrrha Nikos."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance" Raiden bowed his head slightly.

"I assume you know why we're here?" Silver looked at him.

"Of course I do. My younger sister suggested that I simply annihilate all of you with lightning, but my older sister enjoyed the idea of playing a game."

"Well Electricity is my speciality. So either way that wouldn't have worked."

"I beg to differ" Raiden tilted his head slightly, static shimmered around him.

Silver backed off slightly.

"Is something wrong Silver?" Pyrrha looked at him, then back at Raiden.

"Anti-Static" Silver gulped.

"What is Anti-Static?"

"To put it simply- We need to rely on pure combat for this. If we try to use our Semblances, we're fucked."

Raiden gave them a soft smile.

* * *

><p>Jade silently walked through the the halls of her assigned tower.<p>

"It smells in here" she grumbled to herself "it's like blood."

She gagged and continued to walk as she held her hand over her mouth.

"Fuck it!" she yelled, her aura began to shroud her and she burst into flames "I need to burn that smell away, or I'm gonna throw up if I have to endure this smell any more."

Jade stomped through the halls, her flaming aura flickering.

She went to turn a corner then suddenly jumped back, barely avoiding a red arrow. It hissed and evaporated, steam flowed from the wall as if the arrow had eaten through the stone.

"Damn, I missed."

Jade looked around the corner at the red haired guy.

"What the fuck was that?" she gulped.

The red haired guy, pulled back his red bow and launched another arrow. Jade quickly drew her gun and fired. The Arrow passed straight through the shot and continued, but Jade managed to react and swap her gun to it's flamethrower mode. Flames burned the arrow to nothing.

"Interesting" the red haired guy grinned "your flames are so intense that you can burn away projectiles, even if they're made of Blood like mine."

"You make arrows from your blood?!"

The bow in his hands dissipated.

"Carmine Cinereous" he took a dramatic bow.

"Jade Slate" Jade looked at him sceptically.

"You're here because of my littlest sister right?" he continued to grin "I'm not happy about father's decision to try and marry her off, but I don't have much of a say in it. Regardless I'm happy that Cerise convinced him to go along with this little game. It's gonna be totally fun."

"Now you've said that, I wish I could avoid fighting you." Jade let out a sigh "you seem like such a nice guy."

"I do like games but believe me when I say, if this game wasn't going on, I'd gladly take you out to dinner instead."

"You flatter me."

"I'm serious" Carmine grinned "I'd never usually want to fight with such a well endowed, and attractive girl. Huntress or not."

"So what you're saying is you're only interested in my chest?" Jade glared at him.

"For now. But after all this is over, how about we get to know each other a bit more over dinner?"

Jade paused for a moment.

"You know what?" she smiled "Sure, why not."

* * *

><p>Jaune and Sylphie crossed blades for a brief moment. He swung his shield around to hit her, but was suddenly blown back by an unseen force.<p>

"How are supposed to beat her, when something keeps blocking us?" he groaned.

"It can't be too hard." Glaucous bit his lip "she's literally just using wind."

"I've never heard of anything like this before." Ruby giggled "how's she doing it? Is it her weapon?!"

"Jeez, calm down Ruby" Jaune rolled his eyes.

Sylphie swung her sword and a gust of wind engulfed her three opponents.

"I think I understand" Glaucous grunted against the wind. "Her Semblance is Vacuum. Using her sword she pulls the air from around us out, creating an empty space where air suddenly rushes in, and causes a strong wind-like effect."

"I see there's at least one knowledgeable person in your group." Sylphie glared at them all, showing no emotion at all "well done."

"So essentially she controls the wind?" Jaune groaned.

"Not quite" Glaucous responded "she controls where it goes, not necessarily the wind itself."

"So do you have an idea?" Ruby looked up at him.

"Of course. How fast can you move and for how long?" he looked back at her.

"Quite fast. No idea for how long. Why?"

"I need you to create a whirlwind."

Ruby put her gun away "on it!"

In an instant she was gone.

"What are you planning?" Sylphie tilted her head slightly. She swung her sword, but it had no effect "What?"

Wind swirled around them. Within whirlwind was a red blur.

"Wind Lock" Glaucous smirked "as long there is flowing air to constantly go in and out of this area then you can't use your Vacuum."

Sylphie gasped slightly.

Jaune charged in while she was off guard. The girl barely managed to block his strike with her own blade. He knocked her off balance by slamming his shield into her.

She stumbled back and dove out the way of the spray of bullets, which Glaucous sprayed from his gun.

Sylphie jabbed her sword into the whirlwind, trying to hit Ruby.

"Why! Can't! I! Hit! Her!" she growled.

"She's moving too fast for you to figure out when she's going to be at the point where you're striking." Glaucous chuckled "by the time you've jabbed into the wind, she's already gone."

He put his guns away, and then charged forward. Sylphie blocked his fist with her blade, until a burst of energy exploded from the strike.

The green dressed girl was tossed back into the wind, then back out. Her clothes were torn up by the strong winds.

Her eyes became bloodshot as she gritted her teeth.

"I think we've gotten her angry" Jaune gulped.

Sylphie darted forward and Jaune barely managed to block with his shield. Sparks flew as metal collided and scraped against each other. He grunted and panted as she slammed her blade into his shield, filled with blinding rage.

With each strike Jaune took a step back. Glaucous attempted to assist, but Sylphie simply sliced through his bullets before they hit her.

He only had to stumble once and his shield was knocked aside. Sylphie grabbed him and held him in front of Glaucous, her blade to Jaune's throat.

"Stand Down!" She growled "I will kill him unless you kneel before me!"

Glaucous hesitated.

"KNEEL!" she yelled "SAY THE CINEREOUS FAMILY IS ABOVE ALL THE REST!"

Glaucous gulped and got down on one knee.

"Glaucous, don't do it!" Jaune yelled, before choking as Sylphie put the blade closer to his throat.

"Ruby" he said, loudly.

"What?!" Sylphie growled.

The sound of stone breaking echoed. Wind stopped swirling. The red cloaked girl used her scythe to lift herself off the ground and slam her foot into Sylphie's head.

Jaune took the opportunity to slip out of her grip and hurry away from her.

Crescent Rose was torn from the floor as Ruby landed back on her feet. She swung the scythe into Sylphie and, with all her strength, used it to pull her around.

Twisting her weapon around, she used it to pull her opponent around and finally slammed her into the floor.

Sylphie lay there, unmoving.

"Uh- I didn't-" Ruby gulped.

"No she's fine" Glaucous came over and examined her "just unconscious. I suppose she was taken off guard too quickly. Being dragged around that fast then slammed into the floor must have taken its toll on her."

Jaune put his sword and shield away, and then collapsed to his knees.

"That was awful." He sighed "the Cinereous Family really are strong."

"They really are. I'm sure Echo figured out who we were up against though." Glaucous chuckled "otherwise we might have had it much worse."

Crescent Rose fell to the floor. Time seemed to slow down as she fell forward and hit the ground.

"Ruby!" Jaune jumped to his feet and raced over to her.

The red cloaked girl had dropped her weapon and collapsed.

Jaune rolled her over onto her back. Her outfit was torn from the hip to the shoulder.

The blonde knight blushed and turned his head, trying to avoid potentially seeing his friend's underwear beneath her torn clothing.

"She's alright" Glaucous kneeled beside her "thank goodness. It would seem in the moment, Sylphie must have put all her strength into one attack. Without the wind lock it would have been a very powerful attack."

"Will she be ok?" Jaune gulped.

"As far as I can tell she's fine. Sylphie's blade didn't cut past the clothing, so there isn't any external damage." Glaucous responded "though taking a slash like that, with the added power of her opponent's aura, there may be some internal damage. Sylphie's own technique was her downfall, the added wind gave Miss Rose the added speed she needed to take her out."

He took off his jacket and gently put it on her.

"It's a bit big" Jaune commented.

"It'll have to do. We don't have any spare set of girl's clothes with us" Glaucous stood back up "for now; we should rest before heading back."

* * *

><p>"So?" Rinnette sighed.<p>

"Yes?" Echo looked at her.

"Are we really sitting here, playing chess to pass time?" she moved her rook from E4 to F4 position on the board.

"Yes. Yes we are." he responded, moving his bishop from C3 to H8.

"Well now we're done" Rinnette sighed, moving her own bishop from D6 to B4 "Checkmate."

Echo moved his queen forward to D2, blocking her Bishop's line of sight "Nope."

"Fuck. I forgot that you haven't moved your queen."

Her opponent grinned smugly.

"Why am I even trying?" she groaned "you're our team's strategist, you're obviously gonna win this."

"You never know" Echo shrugged.

Rinnette let out another sigh. "At least we're occupying our time while the others are away."

"Its going to take some time to open this door. And we have somewhat over an hour. I think."

"So how are you familiar with this thing?" Rin looked up at the door.

"I helped design it" Echo answered "well I helped with some aspects of the theory."

"So how'd my family get hold of it?"

"I have an idea, but it's very unlikely."

"Gonna tell me any time soon?"

"Nope. Not enough evidence to prove it, so there's no point."

"Fine then" Rinnette rolled her eyes.

Static fizzled.

"Can you hear that?" Echo lifted his head.

"What is it?" Rin looked around.

"Up there" he pointed at the door "the green light."

She looked up, just as the green light flickered off.

"Sylphie" Rinnette bit her lip "they actually managed to beat her."

"Ruby" Echo's eyes widened and he tensed up.

"Are you alright?" Rin leaned over the chess board, in concern.

Echo panted.

"I- I'm fine." he responded "that's the problem with my Semblance. If I use it to physically mimic someone's Aura too much I can form a temporary link with them. I think I've used Ruby's Semblance too much via physically mimicking her Aura. She must have taken a really strong blow because the link just broke."

"So she's passed out and broken the temporary link? Why's that a problem?"

"The link breaks over time. But when it breaks suddenly it's like being stabbed."

"Ouch."

"Exactly."

"Well one light down." Rinnette checked her scroll "and we have approximately just over an hour and a quarter left."

Echo took a deep breath and relaxed "I feel better now."

"How do you think the others are?"

"No idea."

"What about Marine? Do you think she's clashed with my oldest sister yet?"

"We'd feel it. So no."

* * *

><p>The quiet was broken by the sound of wooden doors creaking open.<p>

She walked through the pink room, up the stairs.

The very top of the tallest tower was open to the air and battlements obscured most of the view from it.

Marine stood there, at the top of the stairs.

Light pink hair fluttered in the wind.

"A beautiful sunset" she said.

"Indeed" the pink haired girl responded, her back to Marine.

"I'm Marine. Marine Verity."

The pink haired girl turned around. Strong tension tore through the air.

"Cerise. Cerise Cinereous." she responded "greetings."

She greeted Marine with a smile.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p> 


	15. Blood Shock

Chapter 14: Blood Shock.

Pyrrha's blade collided with the solid metal rod that Raiden was wielding. He swung his foot and she raised her shield. A burst of purple lightning exploded when the two made contact, and the redhead was flung back down the corridor.

Raiden did all this just in time to block the punch that came from behind him. Silver's gauntlet struck the rod. Purple electricity charged through the rod, and Silver countered with his own white electricity.

The static fizzled out and both of them jumped back, away from each other.

"I thought you said not to use our Semblance?" Pyrrha asked.

"As long as his Anti-Static is charged through that Rod, your polarity won't have any effect." Silver responded "however his Anti-Static and My Pure Static both cancel each other out. Making both our Semblance's essentially useless."

A bolt of purple lightning shot from the rod. Silver held out his hand the moment he noticed it and shrouded his gauntlet with his own electricity. Both forms of static fizzled out the moment they made contact.

"So what do we do?" Pyrrha bit her lip.

"I could Overcharge." Silver answered "works the same way as Nora's Semblance works, but I can only use it once per 24 hours."

"Couldn't he nullify it?"

"He can't nullify what he can't touch. But I'd rather save it as a last resort. Though I do have an idea."

Silver leaned over and whispered into her ear. Pyrrha nodded, and tossed her shield, before charging forward.

Raiden slammed his the rod into the shield and knocked it aside, just before Silver's fist slammed into his gut. A burst of white static surged through Raiden's body, blasting him back into a wall.

The dust cleared and Raiden coughed, getting back to his feet.

"What'd you just do?!" he growled.

"As long as you're focused on one thing you can't do the other." Silver smirked "to say any more would be stupid of us."

The silver haired boy darted forward. Raiden blocked his static filled fist, with his anti-static filled metal rod.

Silver ducked, and swung a punch. Raiden blocked the strike, but Pyrrha's shield slammed into his face.

He growled and swung the rod to block her sword, only for Silver to strike him in the chest. Another surge of white static surged through his body.

Raiden began to swing wildly, so Silver and Pyrrha jumped back.

"Is it working?" she inquired.

"By the looks of it." Silver responded "just bit more hopefully."

"What are you doing to me?!" Raiden yelled, angrily.

"Again, to say anything would be stupid."

Silver struck Raiden in the stomach, momentarily catching him off guard and letting Pyrrha charge in and slam her shield into him.

He stumbled back, only for Silver to slip behind him and slam his fist into Raiden's back. The Cinereous family member quickly recovered and spun around, his weapon slamming down into Silver.

There was a burst of purple light and Silver was blasted down the corridor.

"Silver?!" Pyrrha yelled in concern.

He didn't answer, it seemed like he was out of commission for now.

Pyrrha gulped, and prepared herself. Raiden's weapon struck her shield with great force, pushing her back along the floor. A sudden burst of force sent her rocketing backwards, as a bolt of purple lightning blasted her shield.

"Even in this weakened state you two have put me in, I'm still more than a match for both of you!" Raiden scoffed as he marched towards her.

He brought his weapon down, but Pyrrha reacted quickly and blocked with her shield. She slammed the side of her spear into his gut. He stumbled as he was caught off guard again. Pyrrha flipped to the side, her shield acting as leverage as she struck Raiden in the head with her foot. Flipping back onto her feet she brought her shield back around and slammed it into his face.

When he swung his weapon around in a rage, Pyrrha blocked with her own weapon.

Raiden pulled back and jabbed forward, knocking Pyrrha's sword out her hand. When he swung again he hit her shield. Taking the chance, while she was blocking, Raiden grabbed the edge of Pyrrha's shield and yanked it from her grip, tossing it aside.

She gasped as his weapon struck her around the head. While she was on her knee's he struck her again, this time with an Anti-Static charge in his weapon. She screamed.

Raiden grabbed her by her ponytail and lifter her up.

"Do you know what it feels like to have a million volts surge through your body?" He asked her, calmly, as he held his weapon close to her face.

She panted in exhaustion.

Raiden raised his arm, ready to strike her again.

"I'm not letting you do that!"

He suddenly dropped her and his weapon, letting out a shocked gasp.

Silver had his hands placed either side of Raiden's head.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled.

"Do you know what happens when too much electricity surges into a light?" Silver asked "it burns out and explodes."

A sudden burst of white static surged through Raiden's body and he fell to his knee's with a blank expression.

Pyrrha got up to her feet and picked up her shield and spear.

"I thought you were out of commission for a moment there, Silver." She put her weapons away and dusted herself off.

"I am" Silver groaned and collapsed.

"What?!" Pyrrha rushed over to him "are you ok?"

"In order to burn out all of Raiden's energy I needed to use all of mine." He attempted to take in a deep breath but flinched "and I think that blast from before might have broken a few ribs."

"Why not just do that in the first place?" Pyrrha asked "before you took too much damage."

"Because I thought I could do it bit by bit, since he was pretty on guard." Silver responded "unfortunately he overpowered us just near the end, and you almost got pretty hurt. I had to intervene while he was completely off guard."

"But you took a lot of damage yourself." She sighed "but thank you, you probably saved my life there."

"At least we beat him" Silver chuckled weakly.

"I suppose. How do you think the others are doing?"

"Good, I hope."

The corridor seemed to shake.

"What was that?!" Pyrrha got to her feet and looked around.

"Surely you can feel it?"

They looked over at Raiden. He was still face down on the floor, but is seemed like he was conscious.

"That power" Silver gulped.

"What? Feel what?" Pyrrha insisted.

"The raw power of the most powerful member of the Cinereous family." Raiden laughed weakly "can you feel it? Cerise Cinereous, the Fairy Warrior."

"No" Silver took heavy breaths "not just her power, Marine is there too. It's not just one massive power, it's two. And they're ready to clash."

"Marine? As in Marine Verity?" Raiden let out a gasp "as in The Kitsune Samurai?"

"The very same" Silver nodded "it's a shame. Watching the Kitsune Samurai and Fairy Warrior fight is a massive event the world would want to witness."

"You may have beaten me" Raiden sighed "and I can feel that Sylphie has fallen. I'm sure that Cerise wont go down without a great fight."

"We'll just have to wait and see" Silver chuckled.

* * *

><p>They stood, opposing each other.<p>

"So you're the one they call the Fairy Warrior." Marine placed a hand on her hip "you don't look all that much."

"I could say the same of you, Kitsune Samurai." Cerise smiled softly "only 18 years of age and it would seem as though you're equal in power to myself."

"I take pride in my training." Marine responded, a purple glow seemed to shroud her.

"As do I" Cerise responded, as a pink glow shrouded her.

The huge pink and purple aura's clashed and surged against each other.

"Shall we get things started then?" Marine smiled, stripping off her kimono and tossing it aside. Removing her kimono revealed the black leather combat suit beneath, and the two katana in holsters on her back.

She drew both of them and they let out a purple glow.

"Yes. We shall." Cerise continued to smile softly, taking a small pod from the strap on her dress. With a single swing; a long, pink whip extended out from it. When the whip hit the floor, it immediately cracked from the force the weapon held.

Two massive forces opposed each other.

* * *

><p>"Oh my, now isn't that something" Carmine commented.<p>

"What are you on about?" Jade dodged out of the way of a blood arrow.

"My older sister, Cerise. Who ever she's fighting must be super powerful." He answered "it seems like she's going to be fighting super seriously, with all her power."

"Oh no" Jade gulped "Marine."

"Oh? Marine Verity? Of the infamous Team JSMN." Carmine smiled, slyly "Interesting. I can sense the faint Aura of Silver Argent, which begs the question; Where is Nyanza Sunglow?"

"Not here" she responded.

"Then where is he? Surely the most powerful member of your team should have come with you?"

"He's busy on a mission, I wouldn't want to bother him."

"With his very unique Semblance, surely this would have gone faster with him with your group?"

"None of the people I've come with know about Nyanza's ability, save my team and my brother."

"Your younger brother is here?" Carmine smirked "well I'm sure he's no where near as powerful as you, my lady."

"Flattery gets you nowhere." Jade fired a shot from her pistol, but her opponent simple sliced through the shot with a weapon made of his own blood. "Besides, I haven't yet managed to beat my younger brother in a fair fight. The only person in my team to have come close, is Nyanza."

"Oh, so he's more powerful than Nyanza?"

"I wouldn't say that. I'd just say he's more naturally skilled, Especially with his-." She paused, then pulled the switch on her gun. A stream of flames burst from the muzzle.

"Oh why the pause?" Carmine dodged out of the way.

Jade remained quiet.

"So it's something you either don't want to say, or you can't say?" he smirked.

"I've had enough of this." Jade rolled her eyes, and put her weapon away "do you always strike up a conversation in a fight? Do you have that much Determination?"

"I'm sure you know if you don't beat me, you'll lose this little-" he barely had a chance to finish, before being propelled down the corridor.

Flames consumed the green haired girl. Her pupils became slits, like the eyes of a lizard. Green scales formed over her skin, mostly around her arms and face. Her hands became scaled and her nails grew into claws.

Carmine stumbled back to his feet.

"Oh my" he gulped "Draconis. Your Semblance is named as such due to the similarities between the form its users take, and the mythical creatures known as Dragons."

The hallway was scorched black as her flames lashed against the walls. She slammed her fist into his chest, blasting him into the wall again.

"Stop your blabbering and fight!"

"As you wish."

Long red claws extended from his hands, solidifying and becoming a much darker red.

He sliced through her flames, and swung a kick into her chest.

She was knocked back along the floor, and Carmine swiftly followed after her. He raised his hands to slash downwards.

Jade inhaled, then suddenly exhaled. A stream of jade flames exploded from her mouth.

His blood red claws were burned away by the flames, catching him off guard. She lifted herself up, quickly, and slammed her head into his gut.

The force of her strike was so strong, it made Carmine choke and spit up a bit of blood.

She yelped as the blood dropped on her shoulder. Jade grabbed him by the collar of his coat, and bent him over to slam her knee into his stomach. After she was done, she tossed him down the corridor.

Carmine rolled in the air, and managed to twist himself so he landed back on his feet.

"I figured you'd still be standing after that" Jade grumbled.

"It'll take more than that to knock me out, Green Dragon" he smiled, softly.

Again, she rolled her eyes. Her flames flickered as she darted forward.

Her fire shrouded claws struck against Carmine's blood claws.

The blood hissed and sizzled as the flames burned them away. But for every bit of blood burned away, more reformed the weapons.

Jade managed to catch him off guard again. His eyes widened as her knee struck him.

He twitched and let out a weak whimper.

"You wanna know your weakness?" she smiled "you get weaker the longer fight. You use up more blood than your heart can pump. "

"Oh" he laughed lightly "right."

In one swift blow, her fist struck his face and he was knocked to the ground. Carmine lay there, out cold.

The flames around Jade dissipated and she slumped against a wall.

"If I hadn't managed to keep him fighting for so long, I wouldn't have been able to shit." she groaned "I just hope I did enough."

* * *

><p>"Are you still mad?" Echo nudged Rinnette.<p>

"No, I'm just annoyed that I didn't see that move coming." She grumbled "then again, what was I expecting when I was playing chess with you."

There was a buzzing sound, and the crackling of static.

The two of them turned to look up at the giant door.

The Yellow light flickered and fizzled out. A single moment later the Red light did the same.

"Pyrrha and Silver were successful. So was Jade." Echo smiled.

"We have an hour exactly for Marine to beat my sister and for us to beat my father." Rinnette sighed "do you think we'll make it?"

"They've already begun to clash. Can you feel it?"

Rinnette went quiet, then shuddered. "Yes. I can. It feels disastrous."

"You don't know the half of it" Echo laughed.

"Well all we can do is keep waiting."

"Exactly."

Echo simply smiled softly. Two titans, of immense power, were about to collide.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p> 


End file.
